Caterpillar To Idle Nearly 2,500 More US Workers

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.