Blue Bell Layoffs Reach Longview

LONGVIEW — Blue Bell Creameries Inc. announced a massive round of layoffs and furloughs Friday as it confronted the reality of long-term plant closures after a deadly listeria outbreak prompted a nationwide recall of its products. The cuts reach into Longview, where Blue Bell operates a regional distribution center at 3800 S. Eastman Road. According to the Longview News-Journal, two full-time workers in Longview will be laid off, a spokeswoman said. Another 25 will be furloughed, told to stay home without pay but retaining their jobs. The Longview distribution center had 39 full-time employees before Friday. Employees essential to the ongoing cleanup and repair efforts will continue working but have their pay reduced, Blue Bell said.

The company said it needed to initiate the first layoffs in its 108-year history because cleaning and improving its four production plants would take longer than initially expected, especially at its main plant in Brenham. Some were outraged, some were sympathetic, but there was no indifference among the families of workers affected by Blue Bell Creameries’ announced plans for layoffs and furloughs. The company is cutting more than a third of its workforce after a series of listeria illnesses linked to its ice cream prompted a nationwide recall of all its products. Another 1,400 workers will be furloughed. Hannah Averitt’s husband was one of the workers who lost his job. She tells the Houston Chronicle her husband and got “no information, no warning,” and she criticized what she saw as Blue Bell’s “very poor handling of the entire situation.” But Frances Herndon, whose husband was furloughed, expressed gratitude to Blue Bell “for doing everything you can to take care of the employees.”