The state’s “Mobile Workforce Center” is in Postville to help employees of the AgriStar meatpacking plant damaged by a massive fire that started early Tuesday.
The company has not announced when or if the plant will reopen. A message on AgriStar’s Facebook page said the company is working closely with local, state, and federal officials to assess the situation and begin planning for the future. 40 AgriStar employees visited the Mobile Workforce Center in Postville yesterday to file for unemployment. “If they are interested in looking for another job or another position, then obviously we have resources available to help them do that, to help them perform job search activity, to work on their resume, learn how to advocate for themselves with a new employer in terms of what their pay and benefits are going to be,” Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend said. “There are a lot of resources we can bring to the table at this point.”
At least a dozen fire departments fought the blaze fire at the Postville plant on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. AgriStar is Postville’s largest employer. The state’s Mobile Workforce Center will reopen at the fairgrounds in Postville at 11 a.m. today. Townsend spoke with Radio Iowa late Wednesday, after the unit’s first day of operations in Postville. “The mobile unit was purchased and employed to do exactly what we have seen today, being able to go to a community that’s experienced an unexpected disaster and assist, in this case, employees who will be filing for unemployment insurance.”
Twenty-five AgriStar employees drove to the Iowa Workforce Development office in Decorah yesterday to file claims for unemployment, but Townsend said workers can do the same thing on the fairgrounds in Postville. “We can do everything at our mobile unit we can do in our offices,” Townsend said.
The mobile “Workforce Center” will be open today in Postville until 3 p.m. and will operate on Friday from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. “And then we’ll play it by ear with the community and employer in terms of when we need to return and what services are necessary,” Townsend said.
There was a fire at the Agri Star in May, but crews were able to contain the fire before it spread. The plant has produced uncooked kosher beef and poultry products and has employed around 350 people. The Allamakee County Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque have created a Postville Fire Community Support Fund to collect donations, with the money distributed as grants to non-profits and community organizations in Postville that are helping the plant’s employees and their families.
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