Truck maker Paccar to lay off 430 workers

The company estimates that retail sales of heavy-duty trucks will reach 150,000 in North America this year. In contrast, 176,000 were sold in 2007 and 322,000 in 2006, Parietti said.

The Associated Press

11/17/2008

SEATTLE — Paccar Inc. has notified officials that it will lay off 430 workers in January at its Renton, Wash., plant, where it makes Kenworth trucks.

State Employment Security Department spokeswoman Sheryl Hutchison said the company filed a notice with the state Nov. 14.

Paccar will stop making highway trucks at the plant, and will produce only two off-highway trucks per day. Last year, the company was building 18 trucks a day in Renton.

Paccar declined to say how many employees would be let go, or how much it would slow production.

Company spokesman Jeff Parietti said the company plans to ramp up production again when the market improves.

Paccar plans "to increase the build rate at the Kenworth Renton plant when market conditions return to normal levels ... We look forward to get employees back to work when the economy recovers," Parietti said.

Don Hursey, a representative with the union that covers workers at Paccar says that 329 hourly workers and 92 management employees are being let go. About 66 employees will remain at the plant.

Paccar also makes Kenworth trucks at a plant in Chillicothe, Ohio.

The company estimates that retail sales of heavy-duty trucks will reach 150,000 in North America this year. In contrast, 176,000 were sold in 2007 and 322,000 in 2006, Parietti said.