Freightliner to Cut N.C. Jobs
Freightliner LLC will cut as many as 1,500 jobs at a North Carolina truck assembly plant, the Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday.
The company will make the cuts at its Cleveland, N.C., plant in July, the paper reported, citing Freightliner. The layoffs at the plant west of Salisbury would be permanent, state officials told the Observer.
Freightliner has more than half its U.S. plants in North Carolina and if the planned layoffs go through, about 3,500 workers in the state will have lost their jobs by year’s end, the Observer said.
In late March, the company laid off 1,180 people in Cleveland, as Freightliner scaled back from three shifts to two, the paper reported. It also laid off 478 at a Mount Holly, N.C., plant and 260 workers in Gastonia, N.C., the Observer said.
Freightliner, the market leading heavy-truck maker in North America, said late last year that it would lay off as many as 4,000 workers in North America this year because of reduced big rig demand due to new emissions standards that took effect in January.
Freightliner LLC, which is owned by DaimlerChrysler, includes the Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star brands of heavy trucks.
