Here & Now

Neenah Mayor: “Stop The Bleeding”

Frederica Freyberg:

A first look tonight at response to the announcement that Kimberly-Clark will close two Wisconsin mills in the Neenah area, mills that employ more than 600 people. Kimberly-Clark makes many familiar items including disposable diapers and paper toweling and is currently based in Texas, but was founded in Wisconsin in 1872. Last month the company announced it would lay off more than 5,000 workers globally. Its corporate officials saying they would use proceeds from the federal tax cut to help pay for plant closings. In response to the announcement, Governor Scott Walker released a statement that reads in part, Retaining outstanding Wisconsin companies like Kimberly-Clark is just as important as attracting new companies to our state, which is why I'm proposing we offer larger tax credits to ensure the company keeps those 600 jobs where they belong, in Wisconsin. The governor says he wants to give Kimberly-Clark the same level of job retention tax credits as were offered Foxconn, 17% of company payroll. U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin responded saying, in part, This week Governor Scott Walker has proposed asking Wisconsin families to pay for taxpayer subsidies to Kimberly-Clark at a time when permanent corporate tax breaks are being used for a job layoff plan. The people I work for are asking how many tax breaks do you need? The news of the Kimberly-Clark layoffs comes as a blow to the mayor of Neenah, Dean Kaufert. He joins us know from Menasha. Mayor, thanks very much for doing so.

Dean Kaufert:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

I know you’ve been in conversations with the governor’s office on this and wanted a meeting with the company as well. What can you tell us tonight about whether Kimberly-Clark could in fact decide to keep those Wisconsin plants open?

Dean Kaufert:

Yeah. News like this is never good for any community. This is really kind of a punch in the gut for me personally as the mayor of the community, with so many friends and family. This is a tough one because this is the birthplace of Kimberly-Clark. I have — a few hours after the announcement I spoke with the governor personally. First the governor’s staff and then the governor called me. And we talked about, you know, finding a way, developing a plan, looking at a way that we can, you know — we got to stop the bleeding. We got to look at job retention in this state and we got to say, you know what, retaining jobs are just as important as bringing jobs in from other states and parts of the country because these are the backbone of your community.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you know about the response from Kimberly-Clark itself as to whether or not those kinds of incentives would in fact keep those plants open?

Dean Kaufert:

Yeah. I believe that there’s a crack in the door. After talking to Kimberly-Clark executives, after talking to the governor, we believe that — for sure — if you read Kimberly-Clark's statement, it says in it — it says in it that one of the plants, the decision — the final decision has not been made until considerations and negotiations with the union labor. And so we believe this will help them in their decision. They’re still going to have those discussions with the labor people, but we think adding these tax incentives for job retention, tying the dollars to jobs is really important. As I read Senator Roth's bill, there’s a floor, I think it’s $18. So these are really good jobs. And so, you know, we understand and I understand that this is a slippery slope. But you know what? We’re going to have to look at the entire paper industry. A more comprehensive plan maybe when the legislature comes back. But for right now I think it’s really important to stop the bleeding. You got 600 good-paying, family-supporting, skilled workers, trained people who are making a product that is used worldwide and we need to do what we can as Wisconsinites to help this particular industry. And you know what? If we tie them to job retention, the offset, the money that they’re going to be spending in the community, the capital that they’re going to put into homes and buying power is hopefully going to come back to the state more than twofold. And the one thing that I'm worried about and I told the governor, it’s not just the 600 jobs. It’s the supply chain. Think about all the companies that supply Kimberly-Clark and other companies that have shut down. They’re impacted just as much.

Frederica Freyberg:

But if the closings were a business decision based on sales, which the company says are challenging, in part because fewer babies are being born to wear their Huggies, would Wisconsin tax incentives make up for that?

Dean Kaufert:

Well, I think it will. And it’s just competition and global competition, foreign competition. You can go on amazon.com now and buy diapers cheaper. You can go to Costco and things like that. Kimberly-Clark, maybe this little bit of help will help them diversify their company also and look into other areas that aren’t reflective of the market right now as a downsizing of the market. So I think it’s important. Clearly Kimberly-Clark is stable. It’s a good company. They need to make a profit for their shareholders. They need to show a profit. And I think they need to retool themselves a little bit and become a more diversified company and having these skilled workers will allow them to do that.

Frederica Freyberg:

Did this announcement from Kimberly-Clark come as a surprise to you or the state?

Dean Kaufert:

That's a good question. I think it really came as a surprise to me. When the initial announcement of 5,000 jobs, I didn’t think that there was any way that the — what’s referred to as the Coldspring facility, it’s just outside of the boundaries of Neenah, but most of the people live in Neenah. That facility was built in I believe 1998. It’s had upgrades of $19 million. It’s a modern, state-of-the-art technology. The other plant is in the city limits. That facility is home to about 110 employees, who they’ve known for some time unfortunately that their product that they made was struggling and that they were looking at a possible downsizing. But the Coldspring Road, there is just — it befuddles me a little bit on why a facility that’s such state-of-the-art technology, has a workforce that can — you know, is second to none is being considered for a shutdown.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We need to leave it there, but obviously we will be following this. Mayor Dean Kaufert, thanks very much.

Dean Kaufert:

Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

Frederica Freyberg:

The paper industry, an industry synonymous with the Fox Valley, has been in decline for decades, losing 20,000 jobs since 2001.