3M Co. plans to lay off 96 workers beginning in March as part of a previously announced closure of its filtration plant in Eagan.
3M will lay off 96 workers as Eagan filtration plant closes
Filtration plant to close, with the job cuts taking effect in late March through mid-April.
January 29, 2019 at 2:13AM
The layoffs will begin March 29 and end April 12, according to a notice filed with the state under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).
The job losses are part of a larger realignment plan announced in December 2017 that affected 430 employees in Minnesota, Mexico and other unnamed locations.
3M — which announces fourth-quarter and year-end earnings on Tuesday — said a little over a year ago that the plant employed 150 workers. It now is down to 96.
The original plan called for the Eagan filtration plant to close by the end of 2018. The company did not say why the closure was extended by a few months.
3M spokeswoman Lori Anderson said in an e-mail Monday that the decision to close the plant stemmed from the realignment of 3M's Separation and Purification Sciences business that would allow investment in other "key growth segments" that include types of filtration products other than those made in Eagan.
About 10 of the workers from Eagan were offered jobs at 3M's campus in Maplewood. Others can apply for jobs elsewhere within 3M, officials said.
The state Department of Employment and Economic Development is providing a team of employment counselors to help displaced workers find new jobs.
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The funding is expected to give more than 5,000 Minnesotans, especially in rural areas, high-speed broadband access across the state and help at least 139 businesses and 368 farms.
