A struggling Northern Beef Packers laid off nearly all of its 250 workers July 24, according to news reports.
Keloland.com reported that only six workers remained at the plant. Other workers began leaving the premises Wednesday morning. Northern Beef Packers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Dakota.
The company announced that employee paychecks would be delayed. The company attributed the problem to delays securing additional financing. Workers leaving the plant said they still had not been paid. The Associated Press reported that workers hadn't been paid in two weeks, and that the company had not slaughtered cattle in more than three weeks. The plant cost more than $100 million to build, and was designed to slaughter 1,500 head per day.
Court documents show the plant, which is owned by a group of Korean investors, owes millions of dollars to more than 300 creditors in the United States and South Korea.
