More cutbacks expected at Genie

MOSES LAKE — A second voluntary exit program is expected at Genie Industries in January followed by a likely reduction in employees.

The voluntary exit program will be offered to  U.S. team members in Genie’s Moses Lake, Redmond, Wash.; Waco, Texas; Baraga, S.C., and Rock Hill, S.C., plants, said company spokesperson Melinda Zimmerman-Smith.

She said she wasn’t sure if the program will be offered to all 4,000 U.S. team members, whom she described as Genie employees working in production and administration.

She said she wasn’t sure how the voluntary exit program and reduction in force will affect the Moses Lake plant, so specific employee numbers weren’t available.

The cutback is due to a decrease in demand for the company’s products, which include booms, Terex trailers, Terex light towers and generators, she said.

There will be partial shut downs in the four product lines making up the Moses Lake plant in January. she said.

Closure dates in Moses Lake are as follows:

• S125 line, Jan. 5, 6, 8, 15, 21, 22 and 29.

• S80/85 line, Jan. 5, 6, 7, 8, 12,13, 15, 22 and 29.

• Z-60/80 line, Jan. 5, 6, 8, 15, 22 and 29.

• S-40-45 line, Jan. 5, 6, 7, 8, 12-15, 22 and 29.

Genie, an aerial work platform manufacturer based in Redmond, Wash., previously employed 650 people in Moses Lake before two rounds of employee cutbacks in October which decreased the amount of workers by about 150 people, according to the company.

January’s voluntary exit program will be the company’s third round of cutbacks.