The fire at the Patrick Cudahy meat packing plant stopped almost all work at the facility in recent days, leaving nearly 1,400 workers without a job for now.
Cudahy Mayor Ryan McCue says the city has offered to do whatever is needed to get the plant up and running again, as quickly as possible. The state is also offering assistance to the company, and displaced workers.
The plant employs over 1,800 people, and most hourly workers have been told to stay home. McCue says there are concerns about the impact on the local economy, because so many people who work in the plant also live and shop in the area.
Some production is expected to be shifted to other facilities. However, McCue remains hopeful those jobs will return. He says Cudahy is their home and he believes they will remain there.
As the company tries to sort out of the future of the plant, workers are being urged to apply for unemployment benefits.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (MP3 1:03)
