Cummins bringing back laid-off workers

COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP/WISH) - Hundreds of laid-off workers will soon be back on the job at one of the Cummins plants in Columbus. The engine maker is recalling 400 workers as it resumes production of the Dodge Ram engine.

See reaction from Columbus residents and Cummins employees by clicking on the Video tab in the left margin of this story.

It's good news for a company, and a city, that has seen some particularly bad economic news in recent months. Cummins has had to lay off nearly 3,000 Indiana workers, mostly in Columbus, since the recession began.

Now, it will bring back about 400 workers at its Columbus Midrange Engine Plant, starting July 13. That plant makes engines for the Dodge Ram pick-up truck.

It's been down since early may because Chrysler had idled its manufacturing system while it was in bankruptcy.

"Everybody's been confident that it would come back; we know how important our engine is to Chrysler," said Mark Land, executive director of corporate communications for Cummins. "But still there is no substitute for actually knowing that you're back in business, right? So people are very pleased. We've been a partner with Chrysler for more than 20 years and we're very excited to be back and be going back to work."

The employees will probably have another few weeks off toward the end of the summer, in between building the 2009 and 2010 models.

Mark Land says it's still too early to tell when other laid-off Cummins workers might get the call to come back to work.
Cummins, by the way, is the largest employer in Columbus.