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GE To Cut 250 Texas Factory Jobs

GE plans to cut about one-third of the workforce at its four-year-old locomotive plant in Fort Worth in the next eight weeks.

GE plans to cut about one-third of the workforce at its four-year-old locomotive plant in Fort Worth in the next eight weeks.

GE Manufacturing Solutions said in a filing with the Texas Workforce Commission that the layoffs are expected to be permanent and would impact some 250 hourly and salaried workers, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The layoffs should be completed by early April. In addition, the remaining workers will transition to a 32-hour work week in June, which will save about 70 additional jobs.

The locomotive plant will only need about half of its current capacity following the changes, but GE will reportedly continue to receive a tax abatement at the site provided its workforce remains in excess of 280.

The company blamed a sluggish rail freight market for the cuts. A statement last week said that freight rail volume fell by 4.5 percent compared to last year and that more than 15 percent of the U.S. freight locomotive fleet is currently sitting idle.

The Star-Telegram noted that GE last year laid off 1,500 of its 4,500 workers at an Erie, Pa., locomotive plant and that recent reports suggested that the company hasn't received a new order for a freight locomotive since 2014.

"It's been pretty tough in the freight rail industry for quite some time," Tim Bader, a GE spokesman in Fort Worth, told the paper. "Unfortunately, it has impacted our volume."

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