More than 300 support and management employees of Caterpillar have been laid off, effective yesterday. Many of the affected employees were engineers, and were escorted out of building AC and the Tech Center in Mossville. Other management and support staff in Peoria, East Peoria and Morton facilities were also laid off. The exact number is not being released.
The Mossville layoffs met the staff percentage reporting requirements of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, referred to WARN. The layoffs come in addition to the restructuring announced last September, triggered by the creation of a new division and elimination of other redundancies. Some of those laid-off workers will also have the opportunity to return to other open positions at Caterpillar.
This comes as Caterpillar announced its intention to shutter a its Gosselies, Belgium facility as part of the company's massive restructuring. The announcement is part of the European regulatory process and anticipates the collective reduction of 2000 jobs. The Gossellies facility produces hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders and other machine components.