Kimberly-Clark closing two Wisconsin plants, cutting 600 jobs

Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex tissue and Huggies diapers that was founded in Wisconsin in the 19th century and still has a major presence in the state, said Wednesday it plans to close two plants in the Fox Cities, resulting in the loss of more than 600 jobs.

The Dallas-based consumer products company said it’s shutting down the Neenah Nonwovens factory in Neenah and the Cold Spring plant in nearby Fox Crossing. Combined, those facilities employ about 610 people, local government officials said.

Kimberly-Clark previously announced a plan to cut as many as 5,000 jobs and to close or sell 10 plants globally. The job cuts represent about 12% to 13% of the company’s workforce.

The Neenah plant will be shut down within the next 18 months, the company said, but the timing of the Cold Spring plant closure hasn’t yet been determined.

“Business decisions that impact our employees are among the most difficult ones to make,” Kimberly-Clark spokeswoman Brook Smith said in a written statement. “We don’t take such decisions lightly.”

The company is the Fox Cities’ third-largest employer, with about 3,200 workers in the region and 225 in Marinette.

Kimberly-Clark declined to say whether it plans to close its Marinette plant, nor would it answer questions regarding the other Wisconsin operations, which include the North American consumer products headquarters in Neenah.

About 500 employees will lose their jobs at the Cold Spring plant, which makes personal care products including Depend adult diapers, and 110 employees will be left jobless at the Neenah plant that makes nonwoven fabric products.

The job cuts come as the Fox Cities area has been hit hard by paper-industry plant closings.

Many of the jobs have supported middle-class families for decades.

“I am very concerned about this. I grew up in Little Chute, and on our street there must have been at least 15 moms and dads who worked at paper mills,” said Outagamie County Executive Thomas Nelson.

“I know the history, and I know what this still means for our families,” Nelson added.

Kimberly-Clark employees are represented by the United Steelworkers Union.

Tuesday, the Steelworkers learned that Harley-Davidson Inc. was closing a motorcycle assembly plant in Kansas City, Mo., resulting in the loss of about 800 jobs there.

Union officials did not respond to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel questions about Kimberly-Clark but earlier said they hoped to meet with Harley-Davidson management to discuss Kansas City.

“We have those discussions pretty regularly when our employers are in tough financial situations,” said Steelworkers spokesman Tony Montana.

Kimberly-Clark plans to shed up to $550 million in costs, before 2022, through its global restructuring. Market forces ranging from a record low U.S. birth rate to intense competition from private-label products are among the reasons the company has decided to close plants.

Wednesday’s announcement took a political twist when Democrat Dan Kohl criticized his opponent, U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), and the congressman’s support for the recently enacted federal tax cut legislation.

The chief financial officer of Kimberly-Clark said in a recent conference call that the company planned to use proceeds from the tax cut to help to pay for planned restructuring costs tied to the plant closings.

“By pursuing a partisan tax bill that disproportionately benefits the very wealthy and big corporations, Glenn Grothman once again put his party’s needs ahead of the people of Wisconsin’s 6th district,” Kohl said in a statement.

Wisconsin’s 6th congressional district includes Neenah.

On Thursday, Grothman's office responded with a statement:

“I’m disappointed to hear the news about Kimberly-Clark closing its facilities in the Neenah area. This is sad for our community and sad for the long-time institution. The restructuring is taking place due to declining birth rates and stiff competition from internet giants like Amazon, and my office and local leaders are planning a job fair in the area in March to help these displaced workers. I will continue to help in any way I can my constituents who now find themselves out of the job.”

Grothman has said that he supported the final version of the tax bill because it was more tilted to benefit working-class families.

Wisconsin’s paper industry has seen some big losses, with 15 mills shuttered since 1994 and 20,000 jobs lost since 2001.

Each paper-mill job supports about five other jobs, Nelson said, as the industry has a deep supply chain for making its products.

“When you look at the broader economic picture, continuing to lose paper jobs can be devastating to the regional economy. It shows you how many different businesses a paper mill touches,” he said.

Yet even with the mill closings, the Fox Valley has one of the lowest jobless rates in the state.

It’s a unique time in the job market, with manufacturers seeking skilled help, said Jerry Murphy, executive director of New North Inc., an economic development agency in Green Bay.

“It isn’t going to get any better for employers because the group of young people born since 2000 is a numerically small group of people,” said Jim Golembeski, executive director of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board in Green Bay.

For those who lose their jobs: “Anecdotally, we are seeing people move on to positions with comparable pay and benefits, at least in northeast Wisconsin,” Golembeski said.

Maureen Wallenfang, Madeleine Behr and Chris Mueller of the Appleton Post Crescent, and Lee Bergquist and Joe Taschler of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.