It was the kind of employer that every metropolitan government in the country covets: a respected, long-time manufacturer that employed hundreds of local workers and paid them a living wage, with benefits.
But Freightliner’s headquarters are in Germany and its primary markets are on the American East Coast and, as a consequence, Portland’s wishes didn’t amount to a compelling reason for the company to keep building trucks on Swan Island. That’s why Daimler said this week it would shut down its Freightliner truck plant in 2010, when its labor contracts expire. At least 900 Oregon-based employees will lose their jobs.
Oregon officials expressed their disappointment, but said there was little they could have done to change the conditions that led Daimler to shift all its truck-making operations to the Carolinas and to Mexico. And while anybody who’s been paying attention to Freightliner for the last five years knew this day was likely to come, its inevitability doesn’t relieve the sting of losing so many jobs at once.
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