Mass layoffs at Caterpillar in Belgium

On Thursday the management of the US construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar announced that it was laying off 1,400 workers at its plant in Gosselies, Belgium, which has a total workforce of 3,700. In addition, 190 temporary contracts will not be renewed. In two French plants a further 200 jobs are to be axed.

The plant in Gosselies began operation in 1965 and mainly produces hydraulic excavators and wheel loaders for the European market. The job cuts will have devastating consequences for the city and the entire industrial region of Charleroi. Following the closure of numerous factories, unemployment in the area is around 20 percent.

The company management justified the mass layoffs by citing weak economic growth in Europe. “More fundamentally,” however, are the high costs of production in Belgium, a statement said. “At the moment it would be cheaper for us to import machines to Europe from other group sites than to produce them at Gosselies.”

“These measures though painful are nonetheless to regain competitiveness,” declared the managing director of Caterpillar Belgium, Nicolas Polutnik. The cuts were the only way to secure the existence of the plant beyond 2015, he argued. Read more >>

Layoffs rise as more companies are downsizing

Just when it looked as if the economy was upsizing, more companies are downsizing. A mounting number of companies, including many tech firms, have been announcing layoffs, prompting some to worry about the proliferation of pink slips amid third-quarter earnings reports showing nearly zero growth.

"We've seen a spate of bad earnings announcements," says John Challenger of outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. "Companies often take fast action," which results in job cuts.

Colgate-Palmolive was the most recent example Thursday, with plans to cut 2,300 jobs. But that announcement just piled on top of similar revelations from firms such as online game company Zynga, heavy equipment maker Caterpillar, computer chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices and chemical firm DuPont in recent weeks.

Early data point to a disturbing rise in layoffs, as seen by:

-- Recent uptick in layoffs. Companies in North America announced plans to cut more than 62,000 jobs since Sept. 1, says Bloomberg News. That's the biggest two-month slashing of jobs since the beginning of 2010. Read more >>

Sprint, Pfizer, Home Depot, Caterpillar, Philips Electronics slash 60 Thousand Jobs

Yesterday US News and World Report calculated that Sprint, Pfizer, Home Depot, Caterpillar, and Philips Electronics slashed 60 Thousand Jobs.

Job Cuts Get Brutal: Sprint, Pfizer, Home Depot, Caterpillar
The job loss tally so far today: 54,500. Cuts are coming across industries as further weakness in the economy keeps major employers slashing away. On the same day it agreed to buy rival drugmaker Wyeth, Pfizer said it would cut 15 percent from its combined workforce (that's a bit less than 19,500 jobs). Meanwhile, Caterpillar is faring poorly in the global recession. It's cutting its workforce by 20,000 including 11 percent of its workforce, or 12,000 jobs, and 8,000 contractors. Home Depot, a lingering victim of the downturn in both consumer spending and housing, said it would slash another 7,000 jobs as it shutters its high-end EXPO business. And finally, Sprint Nextel is eliminating 14 percent of its workforce, or 8,000 jobs. Update: Add another 6,000 to the tally above. Philips Electronics is cutting too.