Life After Tyres

With the closure of tyre factories so frequently announced, it is easy to spare little thought for the workers who suddenly find themselves without a means of supporting themselves or their families. But what does a tyre worker do when the tyre factory closes? After all, they can hardly apply for a job at another tyre factory across the road.

For many the answer is retraining in another occupation, and a number of organisations are offering former tyre company employees the opportunity to begin a whole new career.

In the US state of Oklahoma, the Canadian Valley Technology Center is making arrangements to hold classes 24 hours a day in order to assist workers made redundant by last year’s closure of the Bridgestone/Firestone tyre factory in Dayton. The centre’s Aviation Maintenance Technology programme is offering an 18-month airframe and power plant training course for those former employees who wish to retrain.

Approximately 400 former Bridgestone/Firestone employees live in Canadian Valley, and one of the centre’s priorities is seeing these people back in the workforce as quickly as possible. The state of Oklahoma is home to a growing aerospace industry with many vacancies available for retrained workers.

State and Federal Government schemes are providing the required funding, thought to be in the vicinity of US$10,000 per person, to retrain former Bridgestone/Firestone employees.

Bridgestone/Firestone has also provided assistance to former Dayton workers in the form of offering job fairs, benefit workshops, skills training and self-employment seminars. This help comes on top of any retirement and severance packages offered by the company.