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A Souderton beef processing plant, one of Montco’s biggest employers, is closing

Global meat producer JBS employs about 1,700 in Souderton.

The JBS plant in Souderton, Pa., is expected to close later this year, impacting 1,700 employees.
The JBS plant in Souderton, Pa., is expected to close later this year, impacting 1,700 employees. Read moreTYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

A global meat producer and one of Montgomery County’s top employers is closing a beef processing facility in Souderton that employs about 1,700.

JBS said Friday that the plant will close by Aug. 14, citing the company’s larger strategy for “growth, modernization, and long-term competitiveness in the United States.” It also plans to close a site in Memphis.

The planned closure impacts some 1,500 union workers who are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 1776.

“These decisions are never easy because they directly affect our team members and the communities where we operate,” Wesley Batista Filho, CEO of JBS USA, said in a statement Friday. “Our focus right now is on supporting them with transparency, respect, and access to new opportunities wherever possible.”

Workers at the Souderton facility were among some 26,000 JBS employees who secured a new union contract last year with better wages and benefits including a more inclusive bereavement leave policy and the ability to accrue sick days.

The contract also established a pension plan for workers. That’s a rarity in the industry in recent decades, according to the union, which called the agreement “a new standard” in the meatpacking industry.

That contract is set to expire in August, when the company plans to close the facility, according to the union.

The work being carried out at the Souderton site, which JBS has operated since 2008, will be distributed among the business’ other facilities, according to a company news release. In the past year, JBS has been expanding its operations in Texas, Georgia, and Iowa as it focuses on growing its prepared foods business.

“JBS USA is investing heavily in the United States and in the future of food production,” Batista Filho said in a statement. “At the same time, we must ensure our operations are efficient, modern, and positioned to compete. By investing where we are growing and making difficult adjustments where needed, we are building a stronger and more resilient company.”

The union is working to try to keep the Souderton site open.

“We are not giving up on this plant, and we are not giving up on these workers,” Wendell Young IV, president of UFCW Local 1776, said in a statement Friday. “Our union will be working around the clock engaging with every elected official and government agency we can to explore all options to keep this facility open and these workers employed.”