Cooper-Avon To Shed Jobs

Cooper-Avon Tyres has announced that 80 of its white-collar workers in Europe are to be made redundant. Offices in Switzerland, France and Germany will be affected, but the biggest number of job losses will be at the UK headquarters in Melksham, where the vast majority of the company’s staff is employed. This is yet more bad news for the tyre industry, with the last six months or so seeing factory closures, the cessation of manufacture of some product lines and the announcement of job cuts.

Most of the big tyre manufacturers have been affected; Continental, Dunlop, Michelin, Pirelli, and now Cooper-Avon joins the list. While the figure of 80 does seem to be on the same scale as Michelin’s announced 7,500 job losses over the next three years, proportionally there is little difference. The Michelin figure equates to 10% of the European workforce, while Cooper-Avon employs around 1,000 staff altogether, so 80 redundancies is 8% of the workforce.

The cuts have been made across the whole white collar spectrum and Cooper-Avon has consulted the trade union and the Department of Trade and Industry. The company also says that it will offer support to ex-employees in their efforts to find other jobs. Ron Shield, the Managing Director of Cooper-Avon Tyres, said that the company deeply regrets having to make such a decision.

He went on: “The action is essential to our long term survival. Cooper-Avon Tyres has a strong future and can become a major contributor to the global growth of its parent company, Cooper Tire & Rubber. By reducing our costs to a level that can be afforded, we will be providing increased security of employment to the remaining employees within the company.