The first round of layoffs has begun at the Madison Oscar Mayer plant.
All salaried corporate employees at the company’s headquarters were given the opportunity to relocate to Chicago. The 140 employees who were recently laid off said “no” to that offer.
The Madison operation has more than 700 manufacturing workers, none of whom were given the option of moving to another plant. It’s expected that eventually around 1,000 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the plant’s closing.
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Doug Leikness, the president of the Oscar Mayer workers union, said they’re working closely with the region’s workforce development board to get those workers into new jobs: “There’s going to be training options, schooling options, assistance on resume writing and interview skills and job searching,” he said.
Leikness said more than 30 area companies have shown interest in hiring Oscar Mayer employees.
Kraft Heinz announced it would be closing the factory back in November. It will remain in operation until June of 2017.
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