CLEVELAND — Joia Bryant, an employee of the Freightliner Manufacturing plant in Cleveland since June of last year, said she woke up to a surprise on Facebook.

“I didn’t expect to get up this morning and get on Facebook and see that, like, we were being laid off,” she said.

Almost 1,000 workers are being laid off from Freightliner’s Cleveland Truck Manufacturing Plant.

Kim Genardo, director of strategic and economic development communications for the N.C. Department of Commerce, sent the Post the WARN letter that the department received from Freightliner. Companies are required to send the state Commerce Department a notice when mass layoffs are planned.

The letter stated that the temporary mass layoffs were due “to a sustained reduction in orders and diminished build rate.”

Some 936 workers will be laid off, including 666 assemblers and 107 utility team members. That’s about a third of the workforce at the plant.

The last day of actual work for the employees will be Friday, Jan. 8, but the layoff officially begins on March 5.

Bargaining unit employees affected by the layoff will still receive regular payment and eligible benefits from Jan. 8 to March 5. They will also receive payment for all accrued but unused vacation pay within seven days of March 5, unless the employee requests otherwise.

In November, the Rowan County Commissioners approved a five-year tax incentive agreement with the Daimler North America plant. The company was planning an expansion that would cost about $38 million, and the agreement was projected to provide about $940,000 in tax incentives to help with the project.

The expansion did not create any more permanent jobs, but Daimler did agree to increase its minimum job retention requirement from 695 to 1,500. The total employment for the company is about 2,800, and with the recent layoffs, that number will decrease to about 1,864.

Robert Van Geons, executive director of RowanWorks Economic Development, also verified that the company would not dip below the job retention requirement.

Other trucking companies have also had problems with decreased demand.

Last month, Mack Trucks Inc. announced its plans to lay off 400 people, more than 20 percent of their workforce, at its Pennsylvania manufacturing facility because of weakened demand. Those layoffs would take affect on Jan. 25.

According to just-auto.com, FTR Transportation Intelligence and Americas Commercial Transportation Research have both reported weak Class 8 heavy-duty truck orders in November, which was unexpected. Class 8 trucks are one of the types of trucks that Freightliner specializes in. Orders fell to around 16,500, which was the weakest monthly total since September 2012 and the lowest November total since 2009.

Gary Lyles says employees at the Cleveland plant weren’t surprised by the layoff, but they were by the timing of it.

Lyles, who lives in Kannapolis, said he’d heard from veteran employees, many of whom had been through previous layoffs, that a layoff may be imminent.

Lyles said he simply thought they all had more time. The signs where there around October, he said, but “we didn’t think it would happen this soon.”

He said there was a lot of work in October, November and December — and a push to get it all done — and there was talk around the plant and within his individual team that layoffs could be around the corner.

Lyles said he’s already made phone calls to former employers and people he knows who could help him find another job.

Justin Webb, an employee since August of last year who is being laid off, said he heard anyone who was hired after May 2014 would be laid off.

Webb said before he started working at Freightliner, the company held a town meeting and assured everyone that rumors of layoffs were untrue.

“It’s really shocking to come back from Christmas break and New Year’s and find out that we only have a week left,” he said.

Webb said that although he thought Freightliner was a good employer, the possibility of being laid off is a risk that potential employees take.

“I’ve had family go through Freightliner. They’ve been in and out of there for 15-20 years now,” he said. “It’s a common thing. Layoffs happen there. It’s just a risk you take with working.”

Bryant said she knew about the possibility of layoffs when she applied for the job.

“I figured there would be one on down the line, but I didn’t think it would be this soon,” she said.

County Commissioners Chairman Greg Edds on Monday afternoon confirmed a number of organizations are part of a just-formed task force to help the former Freightliner employees find jobs.

“We are all working to meet with Freightliner officials to understand the layoffs’ depth and duration and we’re putting together multiple agencies,” Edds said.

Among the included organizations are Rowan Works Economic Development, the United Way, the Employment Security Commission, the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

Edds said Freightliner has been a “terrific employer for Rowan, but the layoffs are further evidence that the county needs to diversify the type and number of industries.”