Employees affected by the job cuts would be offered jobs at other facilities. A company spokesman said 40 new jobs were added to Pilgrim’s Chattanooga deboning plant. The job cuts are part of Pilgrim's strategy to move its Chattanooga operations to small bird deboning operations from prepared foods.
The company plans to close cook and cold storage facilities within two weeks. Those operations are being moved to more modern facilities. More than 1,500 workers were employed at the company's Chattanooga facilities. Currently, there are fewer than 1,000 workers.
