HONOLULU -- Maui Land and Pineapple Co. on Thursday informed hundreds of workers they will lose their jobs as part of a massive layoff.

The move could affect as much as a fourth of the company's 1,100 employees.

Maui Land and Pineapple Co. said the layoffs are due to declining revenues and increasing costs. It is a combination of the bad economy worsened by high fuel prices.

The union representing the workers said the news came at a horrible time.

"You have as many people losing their jobs. Oh, it is going to be real devastating," ILWU Maui representative Willie Kennison said.

Sources told KITV that about 200 MLPC workers will be laid off as the company reduces its production of Maui Gold pineapple. The company's Kapalua Resort will have another 50 layoffs, sources said.

More employees will lose their jobs at the company's Kahului corporate offices, according to sources.

The union representing the workers said that with tourism down it will be difficult to find new jobs for the displaced pineapple workers in hotels.

Maui Land and Pineapple Company's last big employee layoff was just a year ago in June, when it shut down its Maui pineapple cannery, leaving 120 workers without jobs.

Maui Land and Pineapple Co. will meet with the union Friday to officially reveal the number of the layoffs. Then, the union said it will move quickly to help the displaced workers find new jobs.

Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares issued a statement saying, "This is a sad day for Maui Land and Pineapple Company employees and their families. I'm sure it was a very difficult decision for the company, whose roots in agriculture in our community, go back generations."

Meanwhile, the state is sending its Rapid Response Team to Maui to assist the workers being laid off. A meeting for those employees will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Kapalua Training Center in Lahaina.