One year since HyLife closure, Windom still waits for answers about its future

In Windom, Phat Pheasant Pub owner Clark Lingbeek welcomes afternoon regulars. It’s quiet, not like the old days when HyLife was open just up the road on Highway 60. 

“We used to get a lot of the truck drivers hauling in the hogs,” Lingbeek said. “The people selling the cardboard boxes. All the different vendors that would come to the plant that used to stop in here.”

But then, the plant closed.

“There was a lot of anger. A lot of people thought [HyLife] was going to be here,” he said. “They made a lot of commitments to the community. The city did a lot of things building housing and other infrastructure [and] things for the plant because it was a big deal. It was going to bring in a lot of jobs and money, and then when that closed, that changed things a lot.”

Now, after a $14 million dollar purchase, the plant has a new owner: Premium Iowa Pork. Lingbeek said the people of Windom are cautiously optimistic and he doesn’t hear the anger as much anymore. 

Premium Iowa Pork started remodeling the Windom plant last October. The question is: when will it reopen?

In a written statement to MPR News, Premium Iowa Pork President Dan Paquin said he looks forward to sharing what he calls “that good news” soon. 

“As a family-owned operation, we have strong roots in the northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota region, and we understand the importance of local businesses that communities can be proud of,” the statement read. “We’re looking forward to continuing this approach in Windom.”

Windom actually weathered the HyLife closure relatively well, considering the abruptness of the news when HyLife declared bankruptcy and signaled that more than 1,000 of its employees would lose their jobs. 

But several actions taken by city, state and federal officials, along with key agencies, helped soften the worst of the fallout. State legislators passed $14 million in emergency state aid to help Windom finish HyLife’s affordable housing project built for employees and pay off wastewater improvements related to the pork processing plant. 

State funds also helped lessen the financial blow to the Windom Area School District, which ended up losing only 16 students instead of a projected 107 students. 

Strong support, strong community

Economic Development Authority Director Tiffany Lamb says without the aid, the challenges could've been much worse for Windom. 

“We’re not still addressing those [challenges] the same way would have been a year out,” Lamb said. “We’re really looking at growth and opportunity with that.”

Windom experienced a tight housing market before HyLife closed due to its growing population. Now, the 60-unit complex originally intended for plant workers will be leased to the general public. Several new businesses have moved into town since HyLife closed. Job and career fairs were also held to help displaced workers find employment. 

There were many moving parts, City Administrator Steve Nasby said, but Windom ended up surviving because of how many people quickly responded to HyLife shutting down. 

“I really think having such a strong regional and state community was a big piece of this that really helped,” Nasby said. “That’s really what it all comes down to with having all of these organizations coming in to assist. This could have been disastrous for the community from all the jobs lost. I honestly think we’d be in a very different place today.”

Still, there were many who were affected by HyLife’s closing. Lamb said they acknowledge the impacts are still felt. The lessons Windom learned from trying to minimize the economic fallout and knowing who to reach out to for help are critical in helping a small town survive. 

Windom losing HyLife and its emergency response served as an example for communities like Perry, Iowa, which is losing its largest employer Tyson Foods plant on June 28. The pork plant employs 1,276 people and its closure is expected to leave all employees without work. 

Lamb said whatever lessons Windom learned, they’re sharing what they can. 

“Having the capacity to share that I think is huge,” she said. “That’s something where it’s been a really unique situation [and] being able to share some of that too and being able to potentially help some of these other cities when they realize that they’re in the same position where they are quite leveraged on their large employer that then decides they’re going to close.”

‘That’s what scares me’

The biggest question remaining is about the future of the former H-2B visa holders who worked at HyLife. Some 500 of them were temporary workers from Mexico and the Philippines. They were hired specifically to work at the plant, and under the visa rules, were meant to return home immediately if they lost their jobs. 

But a wage theft investigation into HyLife resulted in the former workers receiving what is called “deferred action,” giving them two years to stay and work in the United States. 

Kivu Immigration Law in Worthington represented more than 70 former HyLife workers. Attorney Erin Schutte Wadzinski said case numbers are still growing. 

“We don’t know whether former employees with deferred action will be able to renew their employment authorization after two years, or whether they will find alternative avenues,” Wadzinski said. “If there are any for them to be able to continue remaining, living and working in the United States.”

One worker hoping to return to Windom is Israel Martinez Perez. He saved money while working at Hylife, which he hoped to use to start a business in Mexico some day. He said the closure was a heavy blow for all the workers and remembered the last year being especially brutal. 

“We were all well-established in Windom. I was one of the last people to leave, and Windom became totally lonely, empty,” Martinez Perez said. “It looked like a ghost town after being a busy town thanks to the plant. When the plant closed, we couldn’t work anywhere else because we didn’t have insurance. We didn’t have the visa, nobody would hire us. A lot of doors were closed.”

He was one of many workers who moved to work in Michigan. He ended up returning to southwest Minnesota after living there became too expensive. Martinez Perez still works in pork processing and sends whatever little savings he has to feed his three children back home in Mexico. He just wants to make a better life for his family. 

“If I have no money, no job secured in Mexico and then I arrive with no money, that’s what scares me,” he said. “My kids are over there and that really worries me … everybody is afraid of being unemployed. They are afraid of not being able to pay for things and support their family. We cannot file for unemployment. We need to have a secure and constant job. We always need to be working.”

For now, along with many other people waiting to hear about Windom's pork plant, his future is in limbo.