Confirmation Of Job Losses At Goodyear

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced restructuring actions in its corporate headquarters and North American Tire operations that will eliminate more than 700 salaried staff positions. The action is being taken to improve the company’s fixed cost structure.Nearly 500 jobs will be eliminated through redundancies, including 350 in Akron.

Separately, the company announced that 34 hourly positions at the Akron Technical Centre will be lost.The redundancies will incur a pre-tax charge of approximately 75 million dollars, are expected to result annual savings of 80 million dollars. The job reductions are expected to be complete by March 31.

After these actions, Goodyear will still employ more than 3,000 associates in Akron.”The year 2003 will be one of change and transformation for Goodyear. For Goodyear to restore its earnings growth momentum in this difficult economy, especially in North America, we must improve our cost structure, simplify our business processes and operate more efficiently while continuing to serve our customers,” said Robert J.

Keegan, president and chief executive officer. “Difficult actions such as these must be among those we take. These decisions were not made lightly,” he said.

“While painful for our associates and the Akron community, they are necessary to accelerate Goodyear’s turnaround and help it achieve our goals for growth, market position and financial performance. We must focus on making Goodyear a strong employer both in the Akron area and world-wide for the thousands of associates who will continue to work for this company.”.