Freightliner Cutting Production at N.C. Truck Plants

Freightliner Trucks will sharply reduce truck production and work forces at two North Carolina truck plants, the Charlotte Observer reported Friday.

Its plant in Mount Holly N.C., will be almost completely idled, with about 600 workers being laid off, while its Cleveland, N.C., plant will cut almost 1,300 employees, leaving it with about a quarter of the work force of less than a year ago, the Observer said.

With another 275 workers being laid off at a parts plant, a total of 2,137 Freightliner workers will be laid off March 13, according to Daimler Trucks North America, Freightliner's parent company, the paper said.

Freightliner’s heavy-duty truck plant in Cleveland employed about 2,900 people last spring, and by March that figure will be about 700, the Observer reported.