STEELE COUNTY, MN — Revol Greens has again postponed the potential closure of its Medford, Minnesota greenhouse as the lettuce grower tries to finalize a deal that could keep the facility running, according to an update from state officials.
If the effort fails, the plant would close and employee separations would take place during a 14-day period from Nov. 6 through Nov. 20, according to the company's second revision to its layoff notice, which Minnesota's State Rapid Response Team announced Oct. 30.
About 89 employees work at the facility at 2781 50th St. NW.
The state's summary of the notice does not identify any party to the transaction or describe its terms.
The company first warned of a possible permanent closure in an Aug. 5 notice, which said job losses were expected Oct. 4 if the site or company was not sold or did not receive more funding. A revision dated Sept. 30 pushed that timeline to Oct. 15 through Oct. 29.
The August notice came as demand for greens slumped during a multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to lettuce. A company official told the Steele County Times that month that Revol's products were not implicated, but that shaky consumer demand had hurt the sector and affected financing talks.
The employees are not represented by a union, and the notice lists no bumping rights, which would allow workers to move into other positions in place of less senior colleagues.
Affected positions range from greenhouse associates, packhouse associates and harvest leads to delivery drivers, maintenance technicians, the head grower and the general manager.
Mee Yang, a senior specialist with the State Rapid Response Team, will lead the state's assessment of the event.
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