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Bobcat announces layoffs in North Dakota

BISMARCK, ND(AP) — Bobcat Co. reported plans to cut about 25 jobs at its machinery plant in Bismarck and up to 130 at its plant in Gwinner, in southeastern North Dakota, union officials said.

Officials at Bobcat’s parent company, Ingersoll Rand Co., declined to give details of the layoffs but said the cuts would come first from voluntary buyout packages to employees.

"They wouldn’t give us an ironclad number," said Randall Edison, treasurer of United Steelworkers Local 560 in Gwinner.

"They gave us some numbers but they weren’t sure," said Steve Chmielewski, president of the United Steelworkers Local 566 in Bismarck. "The worst-case scenario — what they told us — was 25, but that’s been changing by the minute." Union officials said they were told the layoffs were to happen by early February.

In a brief statement made recently, the company said it notified workers at both plants on Jan. 4, "requesting applications for participants in a voluntary reduction program" from its hourly paid workers, regardless of seniority.