2nd UPDATE: Caterpillar To Idle Nearly 2,500 More US Workers
March 17 2009 - 4:46PM
Dow Jones News
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) said it will lay off nearly 2,500 U.S.
employees and close a plant in Georgia because of slumping demand
for its construction equipment.
The bulk of the cuts are on top of 22,100 layoffs that the
company announced in January. The company has already offered
buyouts to about 25,000 U.S.-based employees, a reduction in work
hours at some plants and pay cuts for management employees.
The Peoria, Ill.-based company said Tuesday it plans to close
its Jefferson, Ga., plant, which employs 89 workers. Fuel-system
production done at the plant will be moved to company facilities in
Thomasville, Ga., and Pontiac, Ill.
In Griffin, Ga., 200 employees will be idled at an engine plant.
In addition, the company plans to lay off 911 workers at its East
Peoria, Ill., plant where bulldozers are built and 815 employees at
an Aurora, Ill., plant for assembling wheel loaders and
excavators.
In Lafayette, Ind., where Caterpillar manufactures large
engines, 439 employees received layoff notices.
Tuesday's announced layoffs include 245 white-collar and support
positions that are part of the 5,000 salaried positions already
targeted for layoffs.
Mark Patton, president of United Auto Workers Local 145, which
represents hourly workers at the Aurora plant, described the latest
layoffs as "devastating." Of the 815 employees receiving layoff
notices in Aurora, 665 are hourly.
Patton said the 500 Aurora employees who received layoff notices
in January have yet to vacate their jobs. He said about 2,000
hourly employees worked at the suburban Chicago plant before the
cutbacks started.
"It's a bad time," Patton said.
Caterpillar's stock closed regular trading Tuesday up 41 cents,
or 1.6%, to $26.83 but in recent late trading shares were down to
$26.34.
-By Bob Tita, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129;
robert.tita@dowjones.com