011007 IBP Replaces Workers at Texas Beef Plant

Beef and pork processor IBP Inc. said it has hired more than 300 new workers at its Amarillo, Texas beef plant to replace the more than 500 workers who walked out in September ember to protest wages.

The plant can slaughter an estimated 5,400 cattle a day but has been operating at reduced capacity since the walkout.

"It certainly has affected production. We are not at full speed," said IBP spokesman Gary Mickelson of the walkout.

The walkout began September 18 and in the days following that event the company terminated more than 500 employees because the action was in violation of the labor contract, the company said.

In addition to the more than 300 new workers, the company said it would rehire on a case-by-case basis some of those who walked out in September ember. At full staff, the plant has about 3,500 employees. Since the walkout, some cattle that would normally have gone to the Amarillo plant have been shipped to IBP plants in Kansas and Nebraska, the company said.

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