(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Workforce Development executive director Beth Townsend says they are continuing to meet with workers at the Tyson plant in Perry as the June closing date approaches. “We have been working with the local economic developers with the mayor, with the community with Tyson, with D-Mack, with other nonprofit entities. We’ve had our mobile unit on site twice, ” she says.

She says they have now also opened a transitional office. “So that people can come in between, before, or after shifts,” Townsend says. “We will be there…two or three days a week from now until you know there’s no longer in need to help people.” Tyson says it has offered workers a chance to take jobs at other facilities. Townsend says the may or may not be an option for employees. “It always comes down to individual factors, right. And so our focus is going to be on helping the everyone who wants to stay in Perry find jobs in the local area. And we’re lucky because you know, they’re very close to Polk in Dallas County,” Townsend says.

She says there are many job openings in those areas. “That’s where we’re going to be spending a lot of our focuses on helping individuals find jobs that would not require them to move around the state,” she says.

There are approximately 13-hundred Tyson workers that will be impacted when the plant closes at the end of June. There are other ancillary businesses that are also expected to layoff workers in connection with the closing.