Pierce Manufacturing lays off 56 full-time employees at Appleton facility

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This is kind of suprising to me. Judging by the amount of recent Pierce deliveries I've seen across the country, I would think they'd be doing well. They must have had a significant drop in orders.

Pierce Manufacturing lays off 56 full-time employees at Appleton facility

APPLETON — In the wake of continued tightening of municipal budgets nationwide, Pierce Manufacturing officials announced the layoff of 56 full-time employees.

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20110513/APC03/110513016/Pierce-lays-off-56-full-time-employees?odyssey=tab|topnews|img|FRONTPAGE

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How sad to see yet more workers who are paid lower middle class salaries losing their jobs. How about cutting excessive executive compensation first to see how many jobs that would save? If times are tough for the company then those who are paid the most and have the best benefits should give back to the point where they can still afford to live while saving folks who definitely cannot afford to be unemployed from losing their source of income.

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I would have to say I'm not particularly surprised. Pierce, among some others, which we all know but don't need to name, is, I have always believed, a 'Cadillac'. Look around the County lately and you will notice a number of departments accepting deliveries of 'Fords' and 'Chevys' where they would previously have taken deliveries of 'Cadillacs'. Next you'll be seeing commercial cabs in lieu of custom cabs and perhaps some of the current 'Cadillacs' being sent back for refurbishing to get another 10 or more years from them. These are the times we live in now.

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I seem to think there is more to this story. I remember 9-12 month delivery times. What is the delivery time now? I'm sure most of these workers would have liked to have made some sacrifices rather than get a layoff notice. Our big truck is a Pierce and it is a huge improvement over the 'ford' we used to have. By the way the small truck is a Ford and we were able to build it at a significant cost savings.