TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. said Tuesday it will terminate by the year's end employment contracts with a total of 500 workers sent from job placement agencies and other contract workers now hired at its Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, plant.

The cutback is in line with the company's plan to reduce truck production beginning in December amid falling global sales stemming from the current financial crisis, according to Mitsubishi Fuso.

The company will slow down the plant's production lines and close the plant for four days in order to slash truck output in December by 25 percent compared with the current monthly production.

Of 500 workers to be sacked, 440 are those placed by staffing agencies and 60 are another kind of contract worker, Mitsubishi said.

Besides Mitsubishi, other major truck makers are wielding the ax against temp workers because of the global economic downturn.