Conway Bus Plant to Lay Off 300
By Lance Turner1/11/2008 2:31:01 PM
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I.C. Corp. of Warrenville, Ill., said Friday that it will lay off 300 workers at its Conway bus plant.
The plant employs about 1,300. Workers will be let go by the end of the month.
IC Corp. makes more school buses than any other company in the United States, I.C. plant manager Ed Hartung told Regional Economist magazine last year. For 2007, the company expected to make as many as 8,000 school buses, plus some prison buses and tour buses.
I.C. is the largest manufacturer in Conway. Other large manufacturers include Virco, with 821 employees; Kimberly-Clark, 481; and Snap-on tools, 472.
Brad Lacy, director of the Conway Development Corp., said the city has been dealing with rumors of a lay off since the summer, when I.C. said it might lay off as many as 500 people as demand waned. But Lacy said the market improved, at least in the short term, and last year's layoffs didn't happen.
Lacy said the city will work with the state's dislocated workers task force to help employees who are out of a job. He said the area's economy has been good due to the success of central Arkansas' booming Fayetteville Shale Play, the effects of which he hopes will soften the blow of the bus factory layoff.
Change font size
I.C. Corp. of Warrenville, Ill., said Friday that it will lay off 300 workers at its Conway bus plant.
The plant employs about 1,300. Workers will be let go by the end of the month.
IC Corp. makes more school buses than any other company in the United States, I.C. plant manager Ed Hartung told Regional Economist magazine last year. For 2007, the company expected to make as many as 8,000 school buses, plus some prison buses and tour buses.
I.C. is the largest manufacturer in Conway. Other large manufacturers include Virco, with 821 employees; Kimberly-Clark, 481; and Snap-on tools, 472.
Brad Lacy, director of the Conway Development Corp., said the city has been dealing with rumors of a lay off since the summer, when I.C. said it might lay off as many as 500 people as demand waned. But Lacy said the market improved, at least in the short term, and last year's layoffs didn't happen.
Lacy said the city will work with the state's dislocated workers task force to help employees who are out of a job. He said the area's economy has been good due to the success of central Arkansas' booming Fayetteville Shale Play, the effects of which he hopes will soften the blow of the bus factory layoff.
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