After permanently laying off 300 employees
last month, Fond du Lac-based outboard motor manufacturer
Mercury Marine is temporarily laying off another 1,700 workers.
The layoffs will take place one week at a time for a total of between six and eight weeks from now through the end of the year, according to a statement from
Brunswick Corp., the parent company of Mercury Marine. The temporary layoffs will affect most of the hourly employees working at Mercury Marine’s headquarters.
"This week we provided notice to most of our hourly employees in Fond du Lac that we would be making production adjustments from now, through the end of the year," according to the statement from Brunswick Corp. "These adjustments are made to coincide with those of our boat builder partners production schedules. We alluded to this happening in June when we had a round of permanent layoffs."
Last month, Mercury Marine said it was facing challenges due to softening consumer demand in some of the company’s markets caused by continued high interest rates and near-term reductions in boat production by Mercury Marine’s boat builder partners.
"Mercury Marine's industry-leading products continue to gain market share around the world, but at this time, this is not sufficient to fully offset the overall market headwinds," reads the statement issued Friday.
In total, Mercury Marine employs more than 3,500 full-time workers at its Fond du Lac headquarters.
