Letter: Food processors should use local labor to build plants

A few months ago, the Tri-City Herald ran an article explaining the “booming” food processing industry, and the jobs the food processing industry will create.

The Tri-City area is the fourth lowest-cost region in North America to package food, which explains this “boom,” and the plant expansion for Conagra in Richland and new facilities such as Preferred Freezer. These facilities provide some family wage jobs, but who are building these plants, who are wearing the hard hats?

Preferred Freezer is planning a $30 million expansion to its existing plant. They are also planning on using construction firms from New Jersey, Indiana, and Georgia to build this expansion. Are the men and women of the Tri-Cities not qualified to build these plants?

These jobs are family wage jobs that will be lost to people who do not pay into our roads, our schools, or our communities. It’s time to ask the city councils, chamber of commerce and community leaders — why? You want to make America great again, support your local taxpayers, not someone else’s. Make Tri-Cities great again!

This story was originally published February 19, 2017 at 4:21 AM with the headline "Letter: Food processors should use local labor to build plants."