Layoff wave hits freight sector as nearly 9,000 jobs slashed

Layoffs continue to impact the freight industry as firms across the U.S. and Mexico announced 8,794 job cuts over the past several weeks.

The workforce reductions are tied to companies operating in sectors such as trucking, warehousing, logistics, food suppliers and manufacturing.

In the U.S., companies announcing mass layoffs include Lacroix Electronics, FedEx, Frito-Lay, Blue Diamond Growers, Michaels Stores, Kohl’s, Target, JCPenney, Bilfinger Inc., Globe Motors and Geodis Inc., according to media reports and Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices.

States that saw the most freight-related layoffs include Arizona, Alabama, California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

France-based manufacturer Lacroix Electronics is closing factories in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Juárez, Mexico, and a warehouse in El Paso, Texas, eliminating 1,250 jobs.

Officials for Lacroix Electronics said the decision to close its manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Mexico was due to reduced revenue in North America, exposure to the automotive sector, and uncertainty caused by tariffs, according to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business and MSN.

Freight-related companies in Mexico have also recently announced major workforce reductions.

Steel products producers Arcomex and Schneider Electric are reportedly laying off almost a combined 1,000 workers at factories in the Mexican cities of Queretaro and Tlaxcala, according to El Sol De Tlaxcala.

Officials for the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), a major trade union in the country, said tariffs and lower consumer demand for cars and electronic goods in the U.S. caused the layoffs.

“Yes, it is the effects of tariffs, that’s right,” Víctor López Hernández, CTM’s secretary of labor and legal affairs in Tlaxcala, said. “The supply chains downstream of assembly will be affected. Auto parts made in Tlaxcala will be affected, the injection of plastics, which is also important for automobile assemblies, will foreseeably be affected by the situation that is occurring in the automotive market.”

Tire maker Michelin also announced it was closing a factory in Queretaro, Mexico, eliminating 480 jobs, according to Reuters.

Related: Mass layoffs from freight-related jobs continue across US, Germany