One family has been hit particularly hard by recent layoffs at John Deere.
Mathew Shiltz and his wife Jeanie lost their jobs at a plant in Davenport, Iowa, in July.
They are now worried about how they will pay their household bills and fear how they will be able to pay for their rent and car once their severance pay runs out.
The agricultural giant has laid off about 1,830 workers so far this year at several plants in Iowa and Illinois, while moving more of its tractor and farm equipment manufacturing to Mexico.
The 187-year-old company has attributed the worldwide cutbacks to a 20 percent drop in sales.
Mathew Shiltz and his wife lost their jobs at a plant in Davenport, Iowa, in July.
Shiltz told the local station Fuel quality code that he was ‘proud’ when he got a job at John Deere, but now feels betrayed by the company.
Although she said she was already aware that layoffs were coming, she still found it “difficult” to receive the news.
“Orders are clearly down. The number of people in the plant was not producing what we were producing. They are drastically reducing production lines,” he told the outlet.
He added that the Quad Cities community (Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in Illinois) will feel the effects of the layoffs acutely.
“This community has a large Deere presence, with four plants in the area. So when they have these kinds of impacts, it doesn’t just affect Deere, it affects a lot of people.”
Shiltz said he is already taking odd jobs, but he fears for the future.
“It’s going to be very difficult. Now we’re just trying to figure out how we’re going to pay the bills,” he said.
At the beginning of the year, John Deere employed about 22,600 salaried and production workers in the two states.
Costs for farmers remain high while crop prices are low.
In many cases, production for which American workers were responsible has been moved to new locations in Mexico.
Last month, DailyMail.com asked John Deere how many new jobs had been created in Mexico in recent years as the US workforce shrank. There was no response.
In a statement, it said the reason for the layoffs was to “strongly position John Deere for the future.”
John Deere makes it all: tractors, construction vehicles, lawn mowers and snowmobiles.
Shiltz told local Iowa station KWQC that he was “proud” when he landed a job at John Deere, but now feels betrayed by the company.
Other employees have expressed frustration and anger at the cuts.
A longtime worker at the Harvester Works plant in East Moline, Illinois, said it all comes down to one thing: greed.
“Every day we hear about more layoffs and that creates uncertainty everywhere,” said the worker, who remained anonymous for fear of reprisals.
“The only reason Deere does this is greed.”
Laid-off workers receive up to 12 months of severance pay (based on years of service), pay for unused time off, and access to health benefits.
“While the decision to reduce roles across the company was challenging, the company is confident that these adjustments, along with our ongoing efforts to reduce costs and align production and inventory levels, will position John Deere strongly for the future,” the company said in a statement.
John Deere said it remains committed to manufacturing in the United States. Executives highlighted a $2 billion investment in American factories since 2019.
