Cat to layoff 814 at Mossville plant

By Blake Long
Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 2:11 p.m.

MOSSVILLE -- More than 800 local Caterpillar employees will be out of work by the end of February.

Caterpillar announced Thursday afternoon it will lay off 814 workers at its Mossville plant indefinitely starting February 23.

Cat says the demand for products made at the plant including on-highway truck engines, engines for Caterpillar machines and commercial engine applications have decreased significantly.

They say all of their business units will have to make adjustments because of the slow economy, and Thursday's layoffs are all about helping Cat in the long run.

“For the individuals impacted by the decision today, we understand it’s difficult for them and their families. Again, not an easy decision to make, we're trying to make decisions that will make us competitive and successful in the long run and ultimately for the overall good of the company and our employees that's what we have to do,” said Caterpillar spokesman Jim Dugan.

We wanted to know how the massive layoffs will impact the area's economy.

We took that question to the CEO of The Heartland Partnership. He told us some bad economic news is inevitable, but it could be worse.

“We've got about 20,000 new jobs over the past 5 years in our economy, and there's going to be some adjustment back, it’s not going to be a big adjustment but it is better than what's going on in the rest of the country. There are places that are just in survival mode. The entire country is in a recession and this is just what happens in a recession, but it’s actually not happening to us as severe as it is in some of those other places,” Jim McConoughey said.

McConoughey also said more layoffs could be coming to our area.

He expects the next two quarters to be down or flat.

Wednesday, HOI-19 News learned that Cat plans temporary layoffs at three buildings in East Peoria in February and March. Cat would not comment on those layoffs.