POPLAR—Today Senator Jauch announced that Douglas County will receive $20,000 from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce to assist Poplar and Douglas County with the identification of new businesses that could utilize the General Mills facility. The Poplar taco plant is scheduled to close in August, affecting 114 jobs as it relocates production operation to Mexico.
Jauch has been working with Douglas County economic development officials and the Northwest Regional Planning Commission in their efforts to find another company to utilize the Poplar plant.
“The closing of this plant is having a profound impact on the employees, their families and the community. State government has an obligation to assist these workers whose jobs are being sent to Mexico with job training and other dislocated work assistance while we aggressively work to identify new jobs,” Senator Jauch stated. “The $20,000 grant will be matched with some additional local resources. It will be helpful to Poplar and Douglas County as they develop both short and long term economic strategies for this facility,” Jauch concluded.
In addition to efforts to find a new owner for the site, the employees were approved for a federal Trade Adjustment Assistance classification which provides extended unemployment and education benefits for workers displaced by jobs moving out of the country.