Wabash National to layoff 800 employees

Company heads hope to rehire them in
April

Last Edited: Wednesday, 10 Dec 2008, 7:53 PM EST
Created On: Wednesday, 10 Dec 2008, 6:05 PM EST

• Kristin Crowley

LAFAYETTE - 800 Wabash National employees will be out of a job by December 22nd when the company shuts down for the holidays. But the Chief Operating Officer Joe Zachman said he believes the layoffs will NOT be permanent.

"I would call it a temporary layoff. We're working with our sales department to bring in additional orders," Zachman said.

Zachman said employees start returning to work January 5th. Roughly 12-hundred employees will be phased back in through February. Zachman said the slow economy is the reason for the layoffs. He hopes business will pick- up by the second quarter,and allow the company to call workers back.

"We're going through a very significant economic downturn right now and the credit crunch has really impacted our business so the two added together has caused us to take these actions now," Zachman said.
The trailer manufacturer will lay off people from various classifications.

"A welder, and assembler, or a maintenance person is a classification. So within those classifications we would reduce the head count by seniority," Zachman said.

With Christmas just around the corner, Zachman said this decision comes at a very difficult time. But he said employees don't seem to surprised by it.

"Most of them are very well aware of what's going on in the economy and they've handled it very well and haven't had any feedback yet that's negative of any kind," Zachman said.

Despite the lay-offs, Zachman remains cautiously optimistic about Wabash National's future.

"There's always potential for something dramatic happening. We're doing very well relative to our industry. I think there's very little chance we'll go out of business," Zachman said.

Zachman said the company is constantly looking at ways to cut costs to maintain a viable business. We did not get a chance to talk to any Wabash National employees.