Freightliner lays off 130 just before Christmas break

Four days before Christmas, Portland truck maker Freightliner told 130 workers they would be out of a job — effective at the end of their shift on Dec. 22.

“We had heard some rumors (about a layoff), but we didn’t expect it until sometime in January,” said Joe Kear, a business representative of Machinists Lodge 1005, which will lose 109 jobs.

Also affected were seven members of Sign Painters and Paint Makers Local 1094, six Teamsters, four janitors, members of Service Employees Local 49, and four non-union office workers.

“We didn’t have any time to plan for this,” said Kear. “The workers were called in on Wednesday and told that their last day was Thursday.”

The Swan Island plant was shut down for the holidays, so the the laid-off workers did receive paychecks through Jan. 2.

Labor’s Community Service Agency, AFL-CIO, met with workers on Dec. 22 to provide them information about retraining and other services available to them.

Freightliner said reduced demand for its Western Star Trucks forced it to cut production in half — to 22 trucks a day. The Portland plant at Swan Island is the only location where the company produces that brand. Workers will continue cranking out 74 trucks a day, increasing output of Freightliner-brand trucks that include the Class 8, heavy duty Coronado, and military vehicles.

Freightliner-brand trucks require less manpower to build, Kear said.

Kear said Freightliner predicts the demand for Western Star Trucks will pick up late in 2006 and that workers could be recalled then.

Freightliner LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, employs 1,700 workers at the truck plant and another 1,800 at is corporate headquarters in Portland.

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