Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) met with workers from Kimberly-Clark on Friday at the United Steelworkers local office in Menasha. Some of those representatives could lose their jobs after Kimberly-Clark announced the possibility of closing two plants in the Fox Valley.
The move is expected to eliminate about 600 jobs.
On Thursday, state lawmakers introduced a bill in Madison offering the company incentives to stay in Northeast Wisconsin.
It’s actually the same incentive package as Foxconn, a 17 percent tax break, as long as the company doesn't cut jobs.
Sen. Baldwin said she's concerned with offering a company like Kimberly-Clark more tax cuts. According to Sen. Baldwin, last year, the company spent $911 million on stock buybacks. She also said Congress passed and President Trump signed a permanent, corporate tax cuts.
“One thing they could do is just whittle away just a little bit of that 90 million dollar stock buyback announcement they made for this year," said Sen. Baldwin.
Some of the workers who met with Sen. Baldwin agreed.
“I don't think that the taxpayers should bail out a corporation that has record profits, record profits, it doesn't make sense to me,” said Karmen Jones, a Kimberly-Clark employee.
Workers said they're not only concerned for their own jobs, but how lay-offs would impact the entire community. They said workers at Kimberly-Clark help with many community projects like diaper drives, homeless counts and mud runs.
