Sara Lee Corporation’s Bryan Foods meat processing plant in West Point announced March 30 that it is closing. The plant employs more than 1,200 people in the Golden Triangle area and has been in business since 1968.
According to The Clarion-Ledger, the plant is the largest employer in West Point. About 40 to 45 percent of the employees are from Clay County while the rest live in the surrounding counties of Oktibbeha, Lowndes and Noxubee.
Tim Climer, president of the Clay County Growth Alliance, said the closing is a corporate decision of Sara Lee.
The company says that after comprehensive business evaluation they noticed that the plant was not efficient in Sara Lee’s future business plans.
“Closing our West Point facility was a very difficult decision to make,” said Ken Brandenburg, vice president of operations of Sara Lee Food and Beverage Supply Chain.
Brandenburg said the company will coordinate efforts with state and local training programs to help facilitate and ease transition for the employees.
“The timing was a surprise, but we knew that the plant was planning to close,” Climer said. “We were hoping and have been working with prospective buyers.”
The alliance is hoping to find buyers who will still produce the same type of products as Bryan Foods.
The Growth Alliance is working with state officials and the presidents of Mississippi State University and East Mississippi Community College to help employees of the plant to sustain themselves financially after the shutdown. GED and community college classes will be offered to plant employees to help them gain skills to pursue other careers.
Charles Campbell, professor of economics at MSU, says this could be a positive experience for younger employees to get training in other areas where they may not have been successful before. The training offered by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, MSU and EMCC could give them the chance at a higher-skilled, higher-paying career.
In West Point there is transference of lower-skill and lower-wage jobs to higherskill and higher-wage jobs. Climer said there are job opportunities in the Golden Triangle area for those who want to continue to work in the area. Many of the workers have also decided to take early retirement as an option. Severance and retirement packages will be available for the workers.
This could also be an opportunity for the city to expand in other areas of business. Other current industries are expanding, Climer said.
“Out of challenges come opportunities,” he said.
The other, less positive outlook is that the loss of jobs could be a potential scare economically to the city of West Point and financially to the residents.
“There are not a whole lot of jobs in West Point,” Campbell said. “Retailers will be severely hurt, and it will cause a ripple effect down to the farm industry in West Point.”
Unless they can get a buyer, the city will take a major economic hit, he added.
Training courses are a way that the state is helping with the loss. Employees are encouraged to attend these courses and to contact their congressmen to ask for assistance on how to find jobs.
According to The Daily Times Leader in West Point, EMCC has set up a trailer at the plant because it realizes the need for training employees in other areas. Also, the Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) has set up a trailer to aid the employees.
A job fair will be held Friday at the plant site to help the employees meet potential employers.