Monaco cuts 20 jobs, idles another 200 in Coburg
Coburg-based Monaco cut 225 jobs Thursday. The company hopes to hire back 200 people after re-tooling production facilities. By Andrew Segal and KVAL Web StaffCOBURG, Ore. -- Oregon-based RV maker Monaco Coach Company eliminated the jobs of 20 administrative employees Thursday and laid off more than 200 production employees from its Lane County factory. The production employees lose their jobs in a "temporary layoff," according to the company. The goal is to hire them back in 45-60 days. "Our plan is to rehire all of them," said Monaco spokesman Craig Wanichek. Right now the company needs to re-tool its production lines to build some of the coaches that were being built in Indiana. The company announced earlier this month it would eliminate 1,400 jobs at three Indiana plants and move production to Oregon. That change prompted Thursday's layoffs. "As we move the production from Indiana to Oregon we need time to realign the (production) lines and put a plan in motion to when those new coaches are going to be built," Wanichek said. "The motorhome market is very difficult right now for all manufacturers, and we are working to make sure that our business is sized appropriately." The layoffs were the talk of the town in Coburg. This is the second time Monaco has laid off local workers since April. "As always, any kind of big layoff is a big talk for a little while," said Katrina Ritchey, owner of the Coburg Cafe. "So yeah, we're looking for some sad faces for a little while." Monaco employees eat at the cafe frequently, and Ritchey said the topic rarely strays far from the tough economic times. "They keep talking about the economy," she said. "And it's too bad, it's kind of depressing." One employee said some of the laid-off workers had been there 12 or 14 years, and he said things will be different without them. "There's a couple of them who I really wonder how they're going to function without them," said Tim Blissenbach, who has worked at Monaco for seven years. "I don't understand the mechanics of how the choices were made." |
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