Caterpillar Inc. will lay off 475 employees, 300 of them in and around Peoria, where the heavy-equipment manufacturer is headquartered.
A Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) spokesperson told the Peoria Journal Star that thecompany is restructuring and that “current business conditions” also contributed to the decision to cut jobs. Not all of the layoffs will come at the same time, the spokesperson told the Journal Star, and some employees will be able to continue working for several months.
One employee was quoted in that report saying that a meeting informing workers of the impending job losses implied that those positions would be shifted overseas; Caterpillar did not confirm that. All of those jobs will come from the company’s Customer Services Support division, the report added.
In its report, the Associated Press pointed out that Caterpillar colombia has cut hundreds of other jobs in recent months. Since the start of this year, the report said, the company has laid off more than 500 people at facilities in East Peoria and Decatur.
Though the company may be moving those particular jobs elsewhere, Caterpillar appears intent on keeping its headquarters in Peoria, where, this February, the company affirmed it would remain while consolidating workers on one campus.
