Some 23-hundred jobs will be lost in Newton with the shutdown of Maytag’s headquarters and the washer-drier factory there. After a meeting Thursday with Newton’s top leaders, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says he and his staff are setting up a large-scale meeting to be held in Newton.
Grassley says “To bring together all the resources, not only of the Labor Department but some other departments of government, working with Economic Development people and the political leadership of Newton to see what resources are available and how we can smooth the transition from the closedown of Maytag to other jobs and other employment for these people.”
Grassley says Maytag has been a landmark operation in Iowa for decades and it’s hard to believe it’s disappearing. Grassley says “The economic facts of life are — this happens quite frequently in the United States so what you do is, you put the resources together to try to get the job done right.” He says the sale of Maytag to Whirlpool and the closing of the Newton operations is like Iowa having its right arm cut off. Grassley expects the Newton meeting to be held within a few months.