The company that owns the Freightliner truck manufacturing plant in Cleveland says its is in the process of notifying workers they may be laid off.
“Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) is in the process of notifying production workers across DTNA’s North American manufacturing facilities of a potential layoff in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act,” a statement from Daimler North America’s corporate offices in Portland, Ore., said.
The company said it would release more information on Thursday. A spokesman provided no other details.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to notify the state when they plan to lay off more than 500 workers or a third of their workforce.
About 2,100 people work at the Cleveland plant. Another 2,900 work at Daimler plants in Gastonia and Mount Holly, according to the Gaston Gazette.
Company officials met with employees at the Cleveland plant today.
Corey Hill, president of the United Auto Workers chapter that represents workers at the Cleveland plant, said he couldn’t comment on the potential layoffs or confirm numbers because nothing has been made official.
“We just haven’t received anything. The details have to come from the front office,” he said.
At a January 2012 event attended by then-Gov. Bev Perdue, Daimler announced it would add 1,100 jobs at its Cleveland plant. Previously laid-off workers would be recalled first, the company said.
Later in the year, Daimler acknowledged only half those jobs had been filled, saying projected demand for its trucks “had not materialized.”
In September, the company announced it would close its plants for several days due to an “industry-wide slowdown in truck orders.”
But the company sounded a more positive note earlier this month when it told the Cleveland town board the plant would start producing natural gas-powered trucks.
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