The NCR plant that has been in Viroqua for 40 years will be permanently shutting down March 31st. Some 80 workers at the plant were informed of the shut down Thursday morning. "It's going to be a pretty hard loss for Viroqua , I would imagine," said Travis Unseth, an eight-year press operator at the plant. "You stick 80, 82 people out into the work force, I just don't think there are that many jobs available right now." Unseth said he bears no hard feelings against NCR for closing the plant, adding that it was a great place to work.
NCR representative Alan Ulman said for financial reasons the firm will shift label production done at the Viroqua plant to Morristown, Tennessee. He adds Viroqua workers will be able to apply for an "undetermined" number of jobs there, as well as receiving severance packages and help in transitions to new jobs.
Unseth, who already went through a layoff at Northern Engraving, said he's not going back into manufacturing, saying "there's just no jobs there anymore."