WATERLOO - A day without immigrants at the Tyson Foods plant means a day without meat.

The local meat processing plant is the largest of several local business that will close Monday for the national "A Day Without Immigrants" work and school boycott.

Many Latinos and immigrants will stay home from work and school Monday to demonstrate the group's collective strength to the nation.

Most Latino businesses, like La Chiquita and La Placita in downtown Waterloo, will close to honor the day. El Centro Latinoamericano, the Latino resource center, will also shut its doors.

Tyson announced nine of its plants will close temporarily Monday, and while company officials declined to name which plants would close, several sources, including Tyson employees, said the plant would be closed Monday.

Employees said they were officially notified of the decision when the schedules were posted Friday. They said the plant will operate today to make up for the lost day of work.

Tyson Foods spokesman Gary Mickelson said four of the company's six pork processing plants and five of its nine beef processing plants would be closed Monday.

"It was something that was finalized within the last day or so," Mickelson said Friday afternoon.

Between its pork processing plant and prepared foods plant, Tyson employs about 2,700 full-time workers at its location on Elk Run Road. Of the plant's workforce, 28 percent are Bosnian, 26 percent are Caucasian, 24 percent are Hispanic, 16 percent are African American, 5 percent are Asian and 1 percent is Native American.

However, not everyone in the Hispanic community is endorsing the boycott. The Rev. Nils Hernandez, of Queen of Peace Catholic Church, said the Archdiocese of Dubuque is not taking sides on the issue.

He said the church is not endorsing the boycott over concerns about how the boycott might affect immigrant workers. During Sunday's sermon, he said he will encourage families to come to their own conclusions on the matter, but to carefully consider how missing work will affect their employment.

"This can have many implications in their lives," he said. "Where are they going to get assistance if I tell these people 'do not go to work' (and they are fired)?"

El Centro Latinoamericano has been heavily promoting the day and has been encouraging major Hispanic employers, including Tyson, to close for business that day. Bernice Arias, a case worker at El Centro, said the first thing she tells people is to notify their employers and their children's schools if they plan to miss work on Monday.

"I think the day is going to be a success," she said.

Laura de Gomez, owner of La Placita, 322 W. Fourth St., believes Thursday's immigration raid at Julio's Restaurant in Cedar Falls may actually help keep immigrant workers home.

"I think if people miss work, it will be more because of Thursday than Monday's (planned boycott)," she said.

Contact Jens Krogstad at (319) 291-1580 or jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.com. RC Balaban can be reached at (319) 291-1418 or rc.balaban@wcfcourier.com.