If the Thor of Norse mythology is the god of thunder, lightning and storms, then employees of RV builder THOR are feeling a huge storm. Hundreds of RV manufacturing employees were given layoff tickets this week, sending shockwaves through the community.
THOR layoff affects three brands
Three different THOR Industries manufacturing lines have been hit. Cruiser RV and Heartland employees got their pink slips on Monday. Other THOR workers from DRV also got the bad news.
Workers have a short window to start looking for other work. June 20th marks the layoff date. It’s no small layoff, either. According to a local media outlet, The Elkhart Truth, upwards of 500 RV manufacturing employees are affected by the THOR layoffs. Some of those hit with the layoffs have worked with THOR or in the RV industry for decades, and are worried that finding suitable work will be a tough slog.
Affected plants include Heartland in Elkhart and Middlebury, Indiana, as well as Sturgis, Michigan. Cruiser will see layoffs in Howe, Indiana. Next door to the Cruiser plant, workers on the DRV line will also be let go.
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RVT1206b
Thank for sharing the news, Russ and Tina! Very sad for the affected employees and their families. Given the numerous brands under which Thor manufactures/assembles and sells RVs, it isn’t surprising that they would consolidate at some point. Have a great day and safe travels!
Why don’t they use those employees to fix all the crap units they already produced? Oh, I forgot company executive bonuses might suffer. The horror of that thought.
I wonder if Thor’s notoriously bad quality is finally catching up with them? It’s a shame that the workers are going to feel the brunt of this, when it’s the management that’s at fault.
What is the source of the photo used? (statues of 5 men)
Hi, Christine (my middle name, BTW). That image and many similar ones are all over the web. Here’s a website from the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art that explains what the statue is. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Thank you, Diane!
You’re welcome, Christine! Have a great day! 😀 –Diane
Before this fiasco is all over there is likely to be more like 5 million in that sort of line.
yep…all federal government bureaucrat do nothings…
Indeed MattD, an entirely unproductive, unqualified, unexceptional class of lolly-gaggers without any discernable skills.
…that were all hired through nepotism or bcuz they “knew someone”
I’m sorry to hear when people lose their jobs. with Tariffs and high interest rates. It’s only a matter of time that it will affect American jobs. This is a good time for the RV industry to get innovative with the RV industry and improve quality.
Due to the quality of new units I don’t think the article is truthful about how long people have worked at these plants. They used to be built to last
The old saying “only the strong will survive” applies to the article.
Once again, workers build an inferior, defect riddled product and wonder why no one is buying it. Compounding the problem is Thor giving these workers poor quality parts from outside vendors to assemble major sub-assembly’s. The arrogance of these companies is astounding.
if they stop building JUNK, they wouldn’t have this problem!! Lucky for me I bought my Jayco Pinnacle 5er (new) before Thor bought them out. All Thor brands have been going downhill ever since. I am VERY satisfied with my Jayco …and it’s still going strong.
In 2024, the employee population at Thor was 22,300. That number was down by almost 10,000 from Thor’s all time high of 32,000 employees in 2022.
To give context, the employee population at Thor in 2009 was 5,378.
This reduction in staff is neither shocking nor unpredictable. In fact, it would be foolish to assume further reductions are not on the horizon as the previous growth is simply unsustainable.
Source: Macrotrends.net
Yes, but how many of those were the result of mergers between ’09 and ’22 ?
Excellent point!
2008-2009 was the Great Recession so that’s not a good comparison.
No comparisons, just setting context with data, not emotion.
Unfortunately all of the companies mentioned for layoffs were in the news a couple months ago. At that time it was said they were part of a restructuring move. Ya right