Trailermaker Doepker Industries of Annaheim, Saskatchewan, said it has laid off 135 of its 360 employees this spring, and said that many of the remaining 225 have agreed to job sharing to prevent deeper cuts.
Company president Dave Doepker said the war in Iraq and the effects of trade disputes have forced the Saskatchewan company to reduce production to one shift a day from two.
Doepker, whose company builds grain and flat-deck trailers, said the company's problems started with last year's drought, which slowed the farm economy.
Rising fuel prices caused by the possibility of war in Iraq hurt trucking companies' ability to buy new equipment, Doepker said.
