U.K. Caterpillar plant to suspend production for 12 weeks
Workers at Caterpillar’s articulated-truck plant in Peterlee, United Kingdom, approved a break in production:
The layoffs start next Monday when the factory will halt work on its line of articulated lorries for five weeks, with the staff to receive 75 per cent of their usual wages.
Union officials say a further break of six weeks with full pay and another week are also expected leading up to the end of May.
The decision was made after months of negotiations between unions and the company, which employs 700 people at its factory in Mill Hill, in the North West Industrial Estate.
Articulated trucks are basically two-piece machines with a big hinge connecting the tractor to the load carrier in the back. They work best over varied, uneven terrain.
They’re far smaller than the huge mining trucks Caterpillar builds in its Decatur, Illinois, plant, where I’ve been told demand for smaller trucks has also dried up.
All you have to do is Google Caterpillar and layoffs or plant shutdown. You’ll see they’re doing this all over – the UK, Alabama, S. Carolina…
Permalink | Posted January 28th, 2009, at 1:15 pmJim Dugan says they’re cutting back virtually everywhere … I’ve just posted a few that have come up in some Google alerts I’ve got set up.
Since Cat has over 500 facilities, the layoff log could fill the whole blog.
Permalink | Posted January 28th, 2009, at 1:24 pm