Goodyear Employees Launch Online Petition

Goodyear workers from the Canadian Salaberry-de-Valleyfield tyre plant have taken their fight to save the factory onto the internet. The workers, with the support of the local community, have launched an online petition to muster support in convincing the American tyremaker to reverse its decision to close the facility.

Goodyear announced at the start of the year it would close the plant and lay off about 800 workers as early as June 2007. The company wants to transform the factory into a rubber mixing centre for tyre material — a scheme that would require only some 200 jobs.

Employees and municipal leaders are concerned the closure will have a ripple effect throughout the region, where nearly 3,000 jobs are indirectly tied to the Goodyear plant. Through the online petition workers hope to galvanise public support for the factory’s continued operation.

Factory staff claim they’re willing to work with Goodyear to find a means of making the factory more lucrative, such as by shifting production to specialised tyres. Provincial and federal governments have pledged CAD$250,000 (£108,000) to the workers’ union to help its efforts.

Goodyear has reiterated that it has no plans to back away from closing the plant.