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Deere reports 300 more layoffs, this time of salaried workers [1]
['Talia Soglin']
Date: 2024-07-30
Deere & Co. said it will lay off nearly 300 employees at its Moline headquarters in a notice filed with the state Monday.
The batch of layoffs comes after the tractor giant said earlier this month it would lay off nearly 600 workers across two factories in Iowa and one in Moline.
Deere confirmed the layoffs in a statement to the Tribune, noting the new layoffs were of salaried employees and not production workers.
“John Deere, like many others in our industry, faces significant economic challenges, rising operational and manufacturing costs, and reduced customer demand, including a 20 percent decline in sales from 2023 to 2024,” the company said. “This reduction in product demand and increased operational costs have unfortunately forced us to make tough decisions including layoffs at John Deere production facilities and reductions in our global salaried workforce.”
The company said salaried workers who are laid off will be eligible for severance based on the length of their tenure with the company, pro-rated short-term and long-term incentive cash compensation benefits, payouts for unused vacation time and “access to ongoing health and wellness benefits.”
Deere has reported year-over-year sales declines three quarters in a row.
“Uncertainty has caused a decline in farmer sentiment,” said Josh Beal, the company’s director of investor relations, at the May earnings call. “As a result, we are seeing a softer retail environment today than we did just six months ago.”
As of last year, the company had more than 80,000 employees globally.
The Moline-based agricultural equipment giant has a Chicago presence; the company announced plans to open a tech hub in Fulton Market in 2021. At the time, the company said it planned to hire at least 150 information technology employees over two years.
In a statement Tuesday, the United Auto Workers, which represents some workers at Deere, called the layoffs “an insult to the working class people of Iowa and Illinois.”
The union pointed to the company’s forecasted net income of $7 billion this year, saying there was “no question that there is enough profit to go around, and Deere can afford to keep good jobs in Iowa and Illinois.”
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[1] Url:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/07/30/deere-reports-300-layoffs-salaried-workers/
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