Site of Dubuque Packing Co.
Dubuque, IA, 1891 – 2001
Founded in 1891, the Dubuque Packing Company had by the 1960’s grown into one of the largest meat packers in the country and the second largest employer in Dubuque.
In 1980 the company laid off 530 workers after failed contract negotiations with the local union. This prompted the union to file an unfair labor practices suit with the National Labor Relations Board. In October 1981 the company negotiated a 15.8% pay cut and reduction in benefits after having laid off another 1,400 workers earlier that year. The city also at that time gave the company a 20% break on property taxes in addition to a 38% reduction in its machinery assessment. The following April the company announced the closing of the plant, which would bring the unemployment rate of Dubuque to 17.2%.
The company was sold that fall and kept open through another two owners until 2001 when the latest buyer reneged on a promise to refurbish and upgrade the plant. The plant remained empty until it was demolished in 2006. It is now an empty parcel of contaminated land that the city has been unable to develop.
