About 225 production employees at John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline, were informed today, Sept. 20, that they will be placed on indefinite layoff starting Monday, Oct. 16, the company announced.
The workers learned of the layoffs from factory leadership during meetings today at the factory, according to a news release from John Deere.
While the global equipment manufacturer said it has hired hundreds of employees in the Quad Cities in recent years, the company has consistently stated that each Deere factory balances the size of its production workforce with the needs of the individual factory to optimize the workforce at each facility.
The current layoff only impacts the production workers informed today at Harvester Works, Jen Hartmann, Deere & Co.’s director of global brand & communications, told the QCBJ. There are no other factories impacted.
“John Deere is always evaluating our manufacturing and factory footprint optimization on a global basis,” she added.
In addition, she said, non-probationary employees are eligible for transfer to openings at other Deere units as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement. Non-probationary employees also retain recall rights to Harvester Works if workforce needs change.
John Deere Harvester Works currently has about 2,300 total employees with about 1,975 of them working in production and maintenance jobs. The plant is East Moline’s largest employer.
