Talk of Redundancies at Mount Vernon Mere Rumours, Says CTNA

Circulating talk of imminent redundancies at Continental Tire North America’s Mount Vernon factory are just rumours, a company official reported on November 18. While the company has reduced its temporary workforce by approximately 50 employees, the facilities 2000+ permanent employees have not been affected.

“We have been adjusting our production levels and controlling inventories to bring them in line with where the current market demands are,” Hank Eisenga, vice president for manufacturing at the plant told Illinois newspaper The Southern. “Rumours of major layoffs have been circulating, and that’s not the case. We are reducing some of our temporary workforce but we do not anticipate anything in the nature of layoffs to our permanent workforce.”

The national downturn has affected the plant’s output, he added: “Not all, but a lot of the automotive industry is in a difficult position right now. Sales for a number of them have slowed down, some significantly.”

Continental has pledged investments of more than US$220 million in the Mount Vernon factory over the last three years and has focused on education and training of the workforce, all actions that Eisenga believes will help it through difficult economic conditions. “We did some retooling and I think we are in a position to weather these times perhaps more than others are. We will realign our production as necessary and move forward.”