Great Dane Trailers lays off 43 workers at Brazil plant

sue.loughlin@tribstar.com

BRAZIL - Great Dane Trailers has laid off 43 workers at its Brazil plant, a company official confirmed Friday.

The layoffs are due to the downturn in the economy, said Brandie Fuller, the company's vice president of marketing.

"Orders have continued to slow," she said.

The Brazil plant, which makes both refrigerated and dry freight trailers, still has 610 employees, she said.

Fuller described the layoff as temporary. When business picks up, the goal is "to bring them back to work as quickly as possible."

Employees were notified of the layoff on Friday. They will have recall rights when the Brazil plant is in a position to re-hire them, Fuller said.

While layoffs occurred last year at the Terre Haute Great Dane plant, this is "the first official layoff" at the Brazil facility since the economic downturn began, she said.

The Brazil plant is unique in that it builds several different types of trailers, both refrigerated and dry freight, according to Fuller. Production of refrigerated trailers has remained fairly steady, while demand for dry freight trailers has dropped significantly, she said.

The Terre Haute facility manufactures only dry freight trailers.

Fuller could not immediately say how many people were employed at the Terre Haute plant. Last November, she said its workforce, effective Dec. 20, 2008, would be about 115 employees, down from about 450 in 2006.