Storm Lake, Iowa — Tyson Foods is requiring all of the current employees at its Storm Lake plant, along with the company’s five other Iowa facilities, to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by November 1st. The company says they will no longer hire unvaccinated people.
About 11,000 people work at Tyson facilities in Storm Lake, Columbus Junction, Council Bluffs, Independence, Perry, and Waterloo. The company says after months of encouraging employees to get shots, “under half” of its national workforce has been vaccinated against COVID.
Tyson’s CEO says the company is now mandating vaccinations because COVID mutations like the Delta variant are “more contagious” and responsible for nearly all current COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths.
Tyson will provide a $200 bonus to front-line workers who are fully vaccinated.
September 24th is the deadline for Tyson’s “leadership” to be vaccinated. Office workers must be vaccinated by October 1st and all other employees have a November 1st deadline for getting vaccinated. Tyson officials say workers who are represented by a union “will be subject to the results of union bargaining on this issue.”
