Gary Handke, a Deere & Company employee, was affected by the layoffs in the 1980s. Gary became a Deere & Company employee in Waterloo in 1976. He began working at the new Waterloo Tractor Works in 1982, and he was laid off two years later in 1984. The layoffs affected younger workers with little seniority, and it benefited older workers who were not taking early retirement. Gary, with only eight years of seniority by 1984, was forced into being laid off due to the recession. Outsourcing production to foreign companies cost jobs at Deere & Company. Gary thought a $3-4 per hour pay cut or a reduction in the price of tractors could have been an alternative to the layoffs. Gary commented that some negative effects of the Union are that it does not reward good workers or dismiss poor workers, instead it goes strictly by seniority. The laid off workers benefits included health insurance for a year, sub-pay for a year, and unemployment compensation for six months. Gary refused a Deere & Company offer to buy laid off workers' seniority for a lump sum payment, so Deere's would not have to call the workers back. Overall, Gary attributed the job losses at Deere & Company to "poor management and greed."