Oshkosh Corporation Cutting 900 Jobs

A drop in vehicle orders is prompting the Oshkosh Corporation to cut 900 workers. The company says orders have declined as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been winding down. Defense Division vice president of human resources Rod Wedemeier says the layoffs are in response to projections that daily production will decline by 30-percent over the summer. He says that will include reducing 700 hourly positions by June 14^th and 200 salaried workers through July. Wedemeier says the workers will not know if they are losing their job for at least another month. Wedemeier says they hope to reduce the number of layoffs by offering an early retirement package and by leaving some empty positions vacant. After the layoffs are complete, the company will still have about 2,800 workers in Oshkosh.