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Kolpak Lays Off 30 Workers
by Jennifer Clendenion
9/9/09
Thanks to recent economic strife, a number of employees were laid off from a local manufacturing plant last week.
According to Dennis Rooney, Vice President of Human Resources for the Manitowoc Foodservice Company, more than two dozen employees were let go from the Kolpak plant located in Parsons.
The layoffs come after the McCall’s Refrigeration plant was recently shut down, displacing 53 workers. The plant was permanently closed on September 1.
Rooney said some of the displaced McCall’s workers were offered positions at the Kolpak plant. But due to recent economic conditions resulting in a downturn in business, the company felt a reduction in the work force was necessary.
A total of 30 employees were let go from the Parsons plant, which was renamed after the conversion with the McCall plant. The new operation is called Manitowoc Food Service Walk-ins.
The layoffs will likely boost the county’s unemployment rate higher. The unemployment rate in July was 12.9 percent, nearly 5 percent higher than the same time last year. Figures for August were not yet available as of press time.
Bob Newberry, Director of the county Joint Economic Community Development Board, said the recent layoffs are unfortunate. “The biggest impact on our area will be the McCall’s plant closing,” he commented. “Those are lost jobs that will not be back.” But he adds that he is surprised the area has not seen layoffs before now.
“Kolpak has held up better than some other businesses in the recent economic downturn,” Newberry said.
Despite the loss of jobs, Newberry and Rooney are hopeful that the economy will turn around soon and the Manitowoc Company will be able to add more jobs to their existing operations at some point in the near future.
“We hope the layoffs might be temporary and at some point we can recall the displaced workers,” Rooney said.
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