Steamfitters and Plumbers Local 464, Omaha, NE, and Plumbers Local 16, Omaha, NE, have been working for MMC Contractors, completing all of the processed piping in the new chicken processing plant Costco is constructing. MMC is a full-service mechanical contractor for both Local 464 and 16. The new plant is part of a farm-to-table initiative that will help Costco compete with a small number of companies that now control most of the poultry production in the U.S.
Costco started the company Lincoln Premium Poultry (LPP) to run the facility that includes the processing plant, a hatchery, which Local 464 and Local 16 members have already completed, a feed mill, and they have secured 15-year contracts with more than 100 new chicken farms in the area to assist in raising the young chickens, hens, and roosters in cycles lasting approximately 21 weeks. This plant will be responsible for 43 percent of Costco’s rotisserie chicken market, as well as roughly one-third of the raw birds it sells nationwide.
