Legislator liked her job at beef plant
By Joey Berlin
Originally published 01:25 p.m., February 12, 2008
Updated 01:25 p.m., February 12, 2008
The memories that state Rep. Peggy Mast and her younger brother have of Emporia’s IBP and Tyson Fresh Meat plant are better than the ones Tyson is creating for many of its current employees.
With Tyson shutting down its Emporia slaughter operation and laying off around 1,800 employees, Mast is hearing from a number of nervous, uncertain Tyson workers who have made their living on the same site where Mast made hers for about two years in the 1970s.
“My perception is that there’s a lot of people who are going through a grieving process right now,” she said.
Mast worked at the IBP facility beginning around 1972. Her brother, Jerold Rule, started around the same time and worked there until retiring in 2004. Tyson purchased the plant from IBP in 2001.
Mast began work at IBP in the billing department. Later, looking for a better wage, she transferred to the processing side, working in quality control. She said she spent time on every line in the processing area.
“It was an interesting job, because I got to be around different people every month,” she said. “They would put us on a line for a certain period of time and then transfer us to another line, so it never got too old.”
Mast later transferred to the traffic department after suffering a shoulder blade injury. She worked the telephone lines, making sure delivery trucks made it to their destinations on time.
Mast enjoyed her time at IBP and meeting a wide variety of people there. She left the company when she moved to Olathe.
“If I hadn’t done that, I probably would have stayed on in the traffic department of Iowa Beef for a long time,” she said.
Rule started on the processing side, but arthritis eventually caused him to move to slaughter in 1991.
“When I was working on the processing side, eventually I got to where I couldn’t take that cold,” he said. “See, it’s like 42 degrees in there, like stepping into your refrigerator. It wasn’t really too bad when you was working, you wouldn’t notice it. But boy, you take a break, then you feel it.”
Rule said during his time in slaughter, he was fortunate in that he never really had to use a knife. Eventually, the physical demands of the job caused his retirement, which he said Tyson set him up well for.
“(It) was a very good place to work,” he said. “They treat their people very good. You just be there on time and do your job.
“The thing that really hurt me the most when I quit was they said that we had to give them two weeks notice. And I reached a point when I came out of there, of course, I was really messed up (physically). So I worked there about three days, after so many years. I couldn’t give them two weeks’ notice.”
Rule said the layoffs are an event that he never had to experience. He said he’s anxious to see the community react by doing something with the industrial buildings that are there, such as the old Modine Manufacturing building.
“We’re definitely going to feel a real pinch,” he said.
The suddenness of the Tyson layoffs is what surprised many affected workers, as well as Mast.
“I think it’s sad that people didn’t have an opportunity to prepare,” she said. “Because it was a slap in the face. I shouldn’t say that, but it was just so abrupt that it was a shock to the employees there as well as to the community. Such a big hit.”
Mast had talked recently to a woman whose husband had worked at the plant for 38 years and still didn’t have any assurance that he would keep his job. Despite workers who are in predicaments like that one, Mast said she knows the community will bounce back, and Emporia will have new industries and new vitality in a couple of years.
“Even if I drive through some of the neighborhoods and realize there’s going to be some ... rental homes that are vacated now, that maybe they can be renovated, and there can be some really positive things happen in neighborhoods.
“It takes a tragedy sometimes to pull people together, but I’ve already seen that occurring in Emporia through this.”
StovePipe (anonymous) says...
"...I was really messed up (physically)." This is a common theme if you talk to anyone who has worked in meat packing plants for an extended time. They destroy the bodies of their employees and provide as little compensation and benefits as possible.
I really feel for the people who are losing their jobs, but I feel worse that they had to take those jobs in the first place. I am not sad to see an evil and destructive industry like this leaving our town.
February 12, 2008 at 7:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
newme314 (anonymous) says...
I had worked at the plant in Garden City for quite sometime. The statement that they treat their teamworkers well is a bunch of bull. The supervisors did not care if you had to go to the nures's office to soak your hands,due to the pain or soak your elbows or to put a heat pack on your shoulder because you were hurting so bad you could't stand it anymore, if you were pulling count,your supervisors would make you stay there and make you suffer through it. After three years I am still paying the price for it and it is a painful one.
February 13, 2008 at 8:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )