By Bob Tita
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) said it expects to call 550 laid off employees back to work by the end of next year, but will permanently trim about 2,500 idle employees.
The company on Monday began notifying the employees designated for permanent separation from the construction machinery maker. The company said it will provide severance benefits to those employees, but it didn't specify whether they are from the hourly or salaried employee ranks or where they worked.
Caterpillar also didn't provided details about the employees being called back, other than saying they include management, support and production employees.
The Peoria, Ill., company said the additional workers are needed to meet an anticipated increase in orders in the coming months.
Representatives from the United Auto Workers union said call-back notices were recently issued for about 200 hourly workers at the Decatur, Ill., plant where Caterpillar's giant earth movers and motor graders are assembled. Several hundred employees at Decatur though are expected to permanently loose their jobs when Caterpillar shifts production of motor graders to a new plant in Arkansas. About 100 laid off workers also have been called back for plants in East Peoria and near Aurora, Ill.
Caterpillar has aggressively slashed its production schedules and work force since later last year to ailing production with sharply lower demand for the machinery in the weak global economy. The company has laid of more 30,000 permanent and temporary employees.
Caterpillar was recently up 1.8% at $58.66 a share.
-By Bob Tita, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129; robert.tita@dowjones.com