Some Cat workers returning to work

Original estimate of 1,400 workers laid off this year too high

About 90 of the hundreds of workers who were laid off earlier this year from Caterpillar's Oswego Township plant have returned to work full-time.

Union President Mark Patton, of United Auto Workers Local 145 in Montgomery, said this morning that some workers have been returning to work in the past few weeks at "a handful at a time."

The 90 employees are all union workers paid at an hourly rate, according to Bargaining Chairman Jim Steele.

But the employees are not necessarily going back to the same jobs they once had. Patton explained that workers may be filling openings in different departments, and later transferring through a job posting "bid system," Patton said.

Peoria-based Caterpillar announced Monday that about 550 laid-off workers would be recalled to the world's largest construction equipment manufacturer by the end of next year. But the firm also said that about 2,500 laid-off employees would be permanently cut from the company, The Associated Press reported.

The workers are among more than 22,000 laid off earlier this year as Caterpillar dramatically scaled back production due to weaker demand. Caterpillar has cut 16 percent of its work force, which now stands at just above 94,000.

Last week, Caterpillar said it was seeing "encouraging signs" that a recovery may be under way, even as it reported a 53 percent decline in third-quarter earnings, according to The Associated Press.

"Mostly it's a good thing. Being recalled is a good thing," Patton said.

Patton noted that temporary layoffs lasting about a week still occur occasionally at the Oswego Township plant.

Steele also added that he expects another batch of employees to be recalled to the plant next month.

Additionally, the number of layoffs the company had announced at two separate times throughout the year were much higher than what actually resulted, Steele said.

The Oswego Township plant was estimated to have laid off about 1,400 workers, but Steele said the layoffs came out to somewhere between 800 and 900 workers.

"We did not have that many people laid off. It didn't cut us as deep," he said.