Hundreds of workers at John Deere plants in the Quad Cities will lose their jobs this week. Over 500 Layoffs began today at John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline and Deere Seeding and Cylinder in Moline.
The company announced the decision in August, shortly after releasing its 3rd quarter earnings.
Lucas Despain, bargaining chairperson for UAW Local 865, blames an unpredictable and swift drop in corn prices.
"A lot of people that have worked here for many years have said that they would expect the market to fall off just because the grain prices have been up for so long, but we were kind of riding that wave for a long time, and quite frankly, we were used to it."
He says maybe as many of 20 of the laid off workers could transfer to plants in Davenport or Dubuque in the next few weeks.
"Now, it'll be about 545 of our members that aren't currently working. We have them in our thoughts, and we're working with different state and community agencies to try to help them."
In August, Deere said worldwide net sales dropped 5% overall, and 11% in the Agriculture and Turf Division.
