YANKTON, S.D. (KELO) — It’s news Yankton Mayor Mason Schramm wasn’t expecting.
“Very quickly: kind of a shock to everyone, honestly,” he said Monday. “There was really no notice ahead of time.”
A news release from American Foods Group says harvesting at Cimpl’s meat processing facility in Yankton ended Saturday, with more than 250 employees impacted; a notice posted on the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation’s website Monday puts the exact number at 277. The notice says “sausage and some supporting operations” are going to continue. But “harvest and fabrication operating units” are shut down, with this move “expected to be permanent in nature and result in the layoff of most employees” in the aforementioned units.
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The Wisconsin-based American Foods Group says in the news release it will offer workers the chance to relocate. Nevertheless, the developments are a challenge not only for the people who worked at Cimpl’s but also the community as a whole.
“We’re saddened and surprised at the same time with the choice that American Foods Group has made,” Nancy Wenande, CEO of the nonprofit Yankton Thrive, said Monday. “Cimpl’s has been in Yankton since 1949, so they have a long legacy and a long history of being a major employer in our community.”
Still, Wenande and Schramm are looking forward.
“While it came upon us quickly, we want to also, as we do in natural disasters or other events, pull our resources together quickly to help those that need the help,” Wenande said.
“One fortunate aspect of all this is Yankton does have about 550 jobs available in town right now,” Schramm said. “Not saying that those are going to all go that way, but we do have opportunity here, so we’re working to try to let the major employers know that this is coming.”
Schramm and Wenande say that if a now-former Cimpl’s employee wants to keep working in the community, they should know there’s a place for them.
“Yankton’s always, we’ve been a community of resilience and hard-working people, and this is a blow, but we will move forward, and we’ll find ways to become better for it,” Schramm said.
