A drone picture of crews making repairs to the roof of Pilgrims Pride North office after it was hit by a tornado in Mayfield, Kentucky, U.S. December 15, 2021. Jan 21 Reuters -- Pilgrim's Pride Corp PPC.O said on Friday it would raise starting wages for workers at its Mayfield, Kentucky production facility by $2 to $16.50 per hour after the area was devastated by a chain of deadly tornadoes last month.
The tornadoes killed at least 64 people in Kentucky, destroyed one Pilgrim's Pride chicken hatchery and severely damaged another which supplied to farmers near Mayfield, a town of 10,000 that suffered some of the worst damage. The permanent pay increase was negotiated with the UFCW Local 227 workers union for the Mayfield facility, which employs more than 1,500 people.
It said the total wage increase was $4.5 million on an annualized basis.
The raise comes at a time when the U.S. meatpacking sector is facing large-scale staffing shortages due to the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant among workers.