About a hundred Maytag workers in Newton will be laid off indefinitely. In mid-December, Maytag announced its fourth quarter earnings will be down as much as 50 percent compared to last year. Whirlpool, one of Maytag’s competitors, cut its workforce by 10 percent in mid-December due to a slow-down in the appliance industry. Now, Maytag has plans to lay off 100 workers in the Newton plant which makes laundry equipment. Maytag employees who were hired in the past 20 months will be affected. The layoffs start January 22nd.The man who recently resigned as head of Maytag is turning to the used car business. Lloyd ward resigned in November and has landed in California, where he’s taking over as chairman of iMotors. It’s an Internet company based in San Francisco that sells used cars over the Internet. Ward will take over from the founder of the dot-com company. Ward left Maytag abruptly, saying he disagreed with the company’s board of directors over a variety of issues. Former Maytag chairman Leonard Hadley returned as C-E-O and recently revealed the company had come close to moving out of Newton.