December 9, 2008

Bombardier cuts 98 jobs in Sturtevant

Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., a Canadian company that makes Evinrude outboard engines at a plant in Sturtevant, said Tuesday that it will reduce production by 20 percent and eliminate 550 white-collar jobs worldwide.

The Sturtevant plant will lose 20 white collar employees permanently, and 78 blue-collar factory positions that it hopes to rehire "when the market picks up," according to a spokeswoman.

The cuts are effective immediately.

The move follows the layoff of 370 blue-collar employees in the third quarter by the Montreal manufacturer of the Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo and Evinrude brands of sports equipment. Another 430 blue-collar workers have received notices of temporary layoffs to occur in the fourth quarter.

The work force reduction involves all BRP divisions, the company said.

BRP is merging the engine divisions, BRP-Rotax and Outboard engines, into a new division called the “Powertrain” division that will be responsible for the manufacturing and engineering activities of Evinrude and Rotax engines. The Rotax engines will continue to be manufactured in Gunskirchen, Austria, and in Juarez, Mexico, while the Evinrude outboard engine manufacturing will remain in Sturtevant and in Dalang, China.

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