Caterpillar Announces Additional Layoffs for Employees at Three Illinois
Facilities
PEORIA, IL – To bring production levels in line with current demand,
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today notified full-time production employees
at its Aurora, Decatur and East Peoria, Illinois, manufacturing facilities
of permanent layoffs. A total of 2,110 production employees will be laid
off at the three facilities as a result of this decision. The layoffs for
production employees announced today are in additionto a wide range of
other workforce and cost-reduction actions that were outlined by
Caterpillar on Monday, January 26, 2009.
In Aurora, where Caterpillar manufactures wheel loaders and hydraulic
excavators, 500 production employees will be laid off. In Decatur, where
the company manufactures off-highway trucks, motor graders and wheel
tractor scrapers, 1,026 production employees will be laid off. In East
Peoria, where Caterpillar manufactures track-type tractors and pipelayers,
584 production employees will be laid off.
In addition to the production employees, a total of 416 support and
management employees in Aurora, Decatur and East Peoria have also been
notified of layoffs today. This includes 96 support and management staff
in Aurora, 146 in Decatur and 174 in East Peoria. These 416 support and
management staff make up a portion of the as many as 5,000 layoffs and
separations announced by Caterpillar on January 26, 2009. Other
Caterpillar business units are currently determining the level of layoffs
and separations needed to reach the previously announced plan to reduce the
company’s support and management workforce.
These actions are in response to lower demand for products made at the
Illinois facilities. As previously announced, Caterpillar is rapidly
executing strategic “trough” plans and implementing actions throughout the
company to deal with a very challenging global business environment.
Depending on business conditions, more layoffs and separations may be
required as the year unfolds.
“It is never easy to take steps that impact the lives of our employees
and their families,” said Bob Williams, Caterpillar vice president for the
Americas Operations Division that includes the facilities in Aurora,
Decatur and East Peoria. “But over the last few months, recessionary
conditions have had a very negative impact on our customers and we must
drastically reduce our production levels and cost structure in order to
remain competitive for the long run.” Employees impacted by this decision
were notified today by Caterpillar that the layoffs would begin on April
13, 2009. In addition, various government agencies and other officials
were notified of this decision under the United States Department of
Labor’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) and the
Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“IL WARN”).
In addition to reducing its global employment, Caterpillar has
previously announced other actions in response to current conditions.
These include:
Hiring freezes and suspension of salary increases for most support
and management employees.
Significant reductions in total compensation for executives/senior
managers.
Significant reduction in capital expenditures.
Sharp declines in overtime work.
Several facilities have shortened workweeks. Others will or have
implemented full and partial plant shutdowns.
