U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaking in Lexington regarding the Tyson closure announcement on Dec. 9, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
LEXINGTON — U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn held a press conference in Lexington to discuss Tyson Food’s decision to close their meatpacking plant in the community on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
The notice that Tyson Foods employees received on Friday, Nov 21, read “Mass Layoff, Lexington, Nebraska.” The company said it made the “difficult decision to cease certain operations at its Lexington, Nebraska complex.”
Operations will cease on or about Jan. 20, 2026.
Tyson in Lexington employes over 3,000 people and could slaughter around 5,000 cattle per day. It is one of 11 beef segment facilities in the company and one of the largest.
Prior to Osborn’s remarks, members of his staff read statements submitted by Tyson workers and their families.
One was from a 17-year-old, whose parents work at the facility, “My parents are the definition of hard working. They gave Tyson their strength, their time and pieces of their lives that they can never get back. They clocked in early, stayed late and took extra hours whenever the company needed it. They never complained because they believed their sacrifice meant a better life for their children.”
“Now after years of loyalty, Tyson is walking away from them. The closing of the plant is not just a business decision it is a wound to an entire community, built by the hands of immigrants. Yet the company they carried on their backs is turning away from them. Where is the justice in that?”
A second statement was from a single mother who had worked at Tyson for over eight years, “I am one of the people who works hard everyday to put food on the table. I know people who have worked here for more than 30 years. We work dangerous jobs…some of us have injured hands that will never heal. During COVID-19 we risked our lives and the lives of our loved ones to keep this company going – and this is how they treat us.”
“After Tyson announced 3,200 layoffs, beef packer profits hit their highest level since August 2022. This is not a coincidence. This is how monopolies work. Less competition equals more profits for Tyson, less money for ranchers, and no jobs for workers,” Osborne stated in a social media post.
Osborn, who led a strike in 2021 against Kellogg, said he feels what the workers are going through.
He cited how the Tyson workers put their health and lives on the line during the COVID-19 pandemic. “They showed up to work to make sure we had food to put on our tables,” Osborn said.
“They built their lives around this stable employment; they did everything right, they showed up to work. That is one of the guarantees of this country – if you work hard, you get ahead,” said Osborn.
“Now, after giving their best years to this company, they have been told that their jobs are gone,” Osborn said.
He said that the closure not only impacts on the workers and their families but the entire Lexington community. “Think about what will happen when 3,200 paychecks disappear from a town of 11,000, almost 30 percent of the population,” Osborn said.
“Landlords lose tenets, stores lose customers, service businesses lose clients, schools lose students, churches lose parishioners…and main street stores will have to board up their businesses,” Osborn stated, “These ripples don’t show up on Tyson’s quarterly earning report, but they are real and they are devastating.”
Osborn alleged that Tyson’s decision to close the facility is akin to market manipulation. “This is nothing more than a move to funnel more profit to an already multi-billion dollar industry,” he said.
Osborn called for the enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, which regulates meatpacking, livestock dealers, market agencies, live poultry dealers, and swine contractors to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices, giving undue preferences, apportioning supply, manipulating prices, or creating a monopoly.
“Tyson isn’t selling this plant to a competitor, they are closing it, destroying five percent of America’s beef processing capacity,” said Osborn.
Osborn questioned where the elected officials are and called upon them to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act. “The law has been broken, pick up the damn phone and get the (United States Department of Agriculture) to enforce the law,” Osborn stated.
“To the workers of Lexington, you showed up when Tyson needed you, you worked through the pandemic, you sacrificed for your families. You helped build this community and you deserve better.”
Osborn is an independent candidate for the United States Senate and is challenging Republican incumbent, Sen. Pete Ricketts.
