Union Tank Car lays off 82 in East Chicago

The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that Union Tank Car in East Chicago laid off 82 workers on Friday:

Union Tank Car cut its work force by about 15 percent recently as orders for its railroad units waned, a company official said.

The company laid off 82 hourly workers Friday, said company spokesman Bruce Winslow. They are members of Local 524 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers union."(It is) due to the cyclical nature of our business," Winslow said. "

Production is off because the demand for tank cars is waning. We built tank cars at record rates for several years in a row and we're catching up with our orders."

The layoff was the second in 60 days, said Winslow, who didn't have information of the number of workers whose jobs were cut during the first of the layoffs. He called the layoffs "pretty normal" for the industry.