Union members and community activists will rally Wednesday outside the Best Buy corporate headquarters, where Bush administration officials will be taking part in a "Jobs and Growth" tour.

The rally will take place at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at 494 and Penn Ave. S. in Richfield. Sponsors include the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action and the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council.

The Bush tour is an attempt "to divert our attention away from the fact that the economy is in the tank, we have a massive budget deficit, states, counties and cities are slashing services and corporate trade deals have caused the loss of millions of American jobs," the Labor Council said in announcing the event. Bush's "mega tax cuts for the super-rich" have not helped the economy, the council said.

As rally preparations were being made Tuesday, Home Products International, an Eagan-based plastic molding company, announced it was shutting its production plant, putting 173 people out of work and sending their jobs to Mexico.

U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is part of the Bush tour and will be a particular target of protest by union members, who call her the "anti-labor secretary." Other participants in the tour are Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans.

Protests also are possible when they make stops at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce office in St. Paul earlier in the day on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the "Jobs and Growth" tour visited Milwaukee, where officials visited the Harley-Davidson motorcycle factory. Treasury Secretary Snow told the crowd that the tax cuts will help the economy rebound, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, outside the plant, a group of about 40 protesters held up signs that read, "Read Bush's lips . . . No new jobs," the AP reported.