Deere expands Davenport Works layoffs
Deere & Co. announced Monday that 200 employees will go on indefinite layoff this month at John Deere Davenport Works.
On Jan. 20, Deere told employees there that 120 nonsalaried workers would be laid off indefinitely, effective Feb. 16, and another 70 employees would be eligible for transfer to East Moline Harvester Works.
But company spokesman Ken Golden said Monday a new evaluation determined there is no longer a need for those employees at the East Moline plant “at this time.” That means that in addition to the original 120, the other 70 workers plus 10 more would be on indefinite layoff from the plant.
Golden said all of the laid-off employees are eligible for temporary assignments elsewhere.
Davenport Works, located in Mount Joy, began production in 1974. It manufactures articulated dump trucks, four-wheel-drive loaders, motor graders, log skidders, wheeled feller bunchers and cabs. East Moline Harvester Works primarily makes combines, Golden said.
There are 720 wage employees at Davenport Works. Most are members of United Auto Workers Local 281. There also are 320 salaried employees.
In Deere’s annual earnings report, released in late November, projections called for worldwide sales of construction equipment to be down about 12 percent in 2009.
Last week, Deere announced that it will fire 502 workers at its Horizontina, Brazil, plant in response to the declining market demand in South America. Golden said that due to employment laws in Brazil, the workers are being terminated as opposed to layoffs or indefinite layoffs.
In the past six months, 188 workers also have been placed on indefinite layoff at John Deere Dubuque Works in Dubuque, Iowa
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