Turlock City Councilmember Rebecka Monez attended meetings and has been working the phones this week in an effort to find jobs for workers affected by the announced closure of the Foster Farms turkey processing plant in the city.
Effective May 9, the closure will result in the loss of 519 jobs. According to Monez, many of those employees live in her heavily Hispanic District 2.
“I spoke to the folks at Foster Farms again (Monday) and (Tuesday),” said Monez, who won reelection to a second term in November. “I did confirm that they are holding true to the statements put out in their press release, and that is they are committed to relocating the Turlock folks, as many as they can, to Winton and Livingston operations.”
According to a press release issued last week by the poultry giant, the decision comes in response to changes in market demand.
“Foster Farms will continue to have a significant presence in the Central Valley and remain a key employer in the Turlock community with the continued operation of its fully cooked poultry facility there,” the press release said. “No other Foster Farms facilities will be impacted.”
New owner Tyson Foods will relocate the operation about 10 miles south to Livingston, Monez reported.
“We talked with the county’s Workforce and Development Department, and they’re gearing up in order to help address the needs of the 519 people being laid off,” said city manager Reagan Wilson. “We at the city are going to look at all our vacant jobs as they come up and let the county’s folks know that we have these kinds of availabilities. We’ve reached out to some of the other larger employers in the area and talked about doing a job fair.”
Monez is glad that help is available, but she’s realistic about potential opportunities.
“I appreciate the comments and the emails, but I want to keep this very real for District 2 because it is real and devastating for District 2,” said Monez. “I think it’s disingenuous to say that we’re going to retrain these people for different jobs, because if you know who these folks are, you know they don’t read or write English. You know that their primary language is Spanish. And we’re kidding ourselves if we think we’re going to retrain them.”
Monez said she’s working behind the scenes with other poultry processors to get them to relocate to the site.
“That’s the job that these 519 people know how to do, and I’m going to tell you that they do it well,” said Monez. “And they work harder than most folks do. They are very hard-working people.
“So, we are very dialed in to what’s going on at Foster Farms. We’re paying attention and we’re going to do everything we can to help our 519.”
Employees received a letter dated Jan. 24, 2025, that read, “Foster Farms is closing its fresh turkey operations located at FTP1, 500 F St., Turlock, CA 95380, Turkey Live Haul, 550 C St., Turlock, CA 95380, and Turkey Feed Mill, 3600 W. Main St., Turlock, CA 95380. The first employment separations resulting from this closure are expected to occur on or about May 9, 2025. The closure of these locations is anticipated to be permanent.”
