Caterpillar Inc. Company to Layoff 175

Most people have seen the bright machines bearing the name of the Caterpillar Inc. Company. The company, which makes heavy construction equipment, is well know despite the fact that the company is not one used by consumers on a daily basis. For those of you who are not at all familiar with the company here is a look at how they have chosen to describe themselves, “For more than 85 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. With 2011 sales and revenues of $60.138 billion, Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company also is a leading services provider through Caterpillar Financial Services, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services, Caterpillar Logistics Services and Progress Rail Services. More information is available at: http://www.caterpillar.com.”

The company has chosen to get rid of 175 workers in order to deal with its current fiscal situation The Company is making the workers leave as soon as possible. They are attributing the need for the job cut to a serious decrease in the amount of orders that the facility has to fulfill.

Job cuts of that scale are enough to qualify as a mass layoff action under the current guidelines. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

Interestingly enough the company’s latest press release is not about the soon to be made job cuts the company chose to put out a release about a more cheerful, if much less important, topic. For those of you who want to see here is a look at what information the company has chosen to share, “Caterpillar is a sponsor, participant and exhibitor at the 2012 WasteExpo— North America’s largest solid waste & recycling tradeshow serving both the public and private sectors. Be sure to join us on Monday, April 30 for the WasteExpo Welcome Reception, sponsored by Caterpillar, at the MGM Grand at 6:30 PM. Stop by Caterpillar booth in South Hall 1-booth #13069 and get your hands on the new Cat® K Series™ Medium and Small Wheel Loaders with waste guarding, Flexport™ tires and equipped with Fusion™ Couplers and large volume buckets to serve the waste market.  The 966K WH and 924K WH were redesigned to be class-leading in operator comfort, performance and fuel efficiency. “

The company has not spoken about what kind of severance the company may offer to the workers who are cut.