800 accept “voluntary separation” from Deere

Deere & Company says approximately 800 salaried employees will leave the company as part of a voluntary separation program. When first announced in April, the company projected a pretax expense for the program of $50 million but the larger-than-expected participation translates into an expected $100 million pretax expense which the company says will result in a $75 million savings in the first year.

On June 2nd, Deere announced it was laying-off most of the employees at its Ottumwa, Iowa plant. Effective last Monday, 494 employees were furloughed indefinitely while the remaining 195 will face periodic layoffs throughout the next nine months. The Ottumwa facility makes balers, mower conditioners, windrowers and pull-type forage harvesters.