National

Harley-Davidson Inc.: Some 5,400 Harley-Davidson Inc. workers are out of work as the motorcycle maker cuts production because of falling sales. The Milwaukee-based company announced in September it would shut down production at plants in Wisconsin, Kansas City and York, Pa., recently as part of a planned cut in production. The plant in York, Pa., the company's largest, has 2,800 workers idled recently. There are about 1,750 workers idled in Wisconsin at power-train operations. The Kansas City plant has 850 workers idled. The company said it expects next year to be difficult, too, as domestic buyers become more cautious about their spending given rising oil prices and slumping home sales.

Koch Enterprises, Inc.: A local die casting plant will lay off more than 100 employees, blaming a decreasing market share and slow American auto sales. Gibbs Die Casting Corporation, established in 1965, announced recently that it would consolidate its North American operations from two plants to one. Around the world, there are plants in Brazil, Hungary, Korea and China, according to the company's Web site. The tool and die-casting company makes castings for auto parts. At the local plant, jobs ranged from skilled technicians and toolmakers to general laborers.

Whitehall Industries: Horry County will lose 94 automotive jobs in January as a supplier to the Corvette and BMW X5 shifts production to Michigan. The manager of the WAC plant in Aynor, said the work will go north because of the plant's high transportation costs, frequent power interruptions and German-designed machining tools intolerant to the heat and humidity found in the community. The jobs will move to a nonunion 400-employee plant in Ludington, Mich., part of the parent company, Whitehall Industries.

Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc.: Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc. will lay off 62 employees at its Bothell headquarters and 10 at its Hauppauge, N.Y., facility in the wake of a canceled deal. The company will have about 160 employees after the layoffs. Recently, the biotech said it would be forced to lay off employees in the wake of Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s decision to terminate a deal to commercialize a nasal spray for the treatment of osteoporosis. The deal could have been worth up to $577 million for Nastech.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car Company: A Goose Creek call center that was recently acquired by North America's largest rental car business is shutting down next year, eliminating 250 local jobs. Enterprise Rent-A-Car said it plans to close the customer-service operation. St. Louis-based Enterprise notified the workers about the closing to give them ample time to line up new jobs. The calls now being handled in Goose Creek will be rerouted to Enterprise's centers in St. Louis and Salt Lake City, as well as a new reservations hub it is building in Eugene, Ore.

Exxon Mobil Corporation: Exxon Mobil Corp. will close its Monterey No. 1 coal mine in Macoupin County after a potential sale of the mine fell apart. More than 300 mine employees will lose their jobs. Almost 70 union-represented workers were laid off. Monterey No. 1 employees were notified of the potential sale last summer. In late October, managers said the sale to Pennsylvania-based Carlin Acquisition Corp. would be complete by the end of November. Instead, financing for the deal apparently fell through and Exxon decided to close the mine. For Irving, Texas-based Exxon, the decision marks an exit from the coal business. The oil giant also has shed other coal and metals assets to focus on finding, producing and refining petroleum. Exxon has owned the mine just south of Carlinville since 1970.

H&R Block, Inc.: H&R Block Inc. said recently that a deal to sell its troubled mortgage lending arm has fallen through, forcing it to scrap most of the $1 billion business. The Kansas City-based tax preparer and Cerberus Capital Management LP said that they have terminated their agreement, announced in April, for a Cerberus subsidiary to buy Option One Mortgage Corp. H&R Block is accepting no new mortgage applications and will lay off about 620 employees and close three offices. Cerberus and H&R Block have tried to renegotiate the agreement regarding Option One over the past several months as the mortgage market was rocked by sub-prime defaults and tightened lending.

Altera Corporation: Altera Corp., a maker of programmable chips, said it will take $4 million to $6 million in restructuring charges in the fourth quarter and will cut 2 percent of its work force. The restructuring charges are related to lease changes and the elimination of about 65 jobs from Altera's staff of 2,700. The company expects $10 million in savings per year from the restructuring.

3M Company: 3M Co. plans to eliminate 141 jobs from its display and graphics unit. Maplewood-based manufacturer 3M will lay off 63 workers in Maplewood and 78 from a facility in Cincinnati. The move is part of an effort to reduce expenses as the company cuts its LCD film prices to compete with manufacturers in Asia. The company will shed 47 employees in its optical systems division in Maplewood, and its commercial graphics department will cut six positions. Its business lab will eliminate 10 positions and relocate another 10 to 12 positions either to the film lab or other units. The job cuts in Cincinnati will come from 3M's projection systems department which is currently phasing out its LCOS and KE polarizer businesses along with its home-theater and simulation business.