HAGERSTOWN — Three weeks after a local company laid off nearly half its hourly workforce, area leaders say the business' silence on the matter continues to speak volumes.
Autocar Trucks, 511 S. Washington St., quietly cut 70 of its 146 hourly-wage employees Jan. 4, citing a downturn in production of the last-remaining truck line at its Hagerstown plant.
During a staff meeting that morning, the laid-off workers were informed their jobs would be terminated at the end of the day's shift. They also were told they might be hired back if demand for the vehicles produced at the facility increased.
Although the company was not obligated to report the cuts to the state or local governments, per requirements set forth by a federal law known as the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, multiple area officials told The Palladium-Item they were shocked when they first learned of the layoffs, particularly since the news came from people outside the company.
Each said the move came without so much as a phone call or email informing them layoffs were pending. In the weeks since the staffing drawdown, Autocar has remained mostly silent, declining to take calls from or speak to local leaders about what led to the cuts — or what's being done by the company to resolve the situation.
The company refused multiple requests for comment for this story, other than a prepared statement.