Two large layoffs were announced Friday in Oklahoma including 150 workers at the Hitch Pork Processing plant in Guymon and 80 employees of the historic Skirvin Hilton hotel in downtown Oklahoma City.
In a notification to County Commissioners in Guymon and the Oklahoma Office of Workforce Development, Hitch Enterprises said it would close its Hitch Pork Producers Inc. operation next month. The layoff of the 150 workers will be permanent.
Jason Hitch with the company emailed OK Energy Today stating, “I can confirm that it was economically driven and the final straw was COVID19.”
Hitch is Chairman of the Board and Co-CEO of Hitch Enterprises, Inc.
In another WARN notice to state officials, the Skirvin Hilton announced it intends to layoff 80 employees at the end of July.
Skip Harless, the General Manager stated in the WARN notification that the hotel was re-opened on June 22.
“Unfortunately, the Coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted our ability to maintain normal business levels, thus our ability to retain our entire staff,” he wrote. “These permanent layoffs will begin at the end of business on July 31, 2020.”
The affected employees include one Assistant Front Office Manager, two Chefs, three managers in the Administrative section, two Restaurant managers, an executive housekeeper and two managers in Sales.
At least 66 of the affected employees are hourly associated and 14 are the management associates.