91 Laid off from Bridgestone Factory in US

Further layoffs have been announced at a Bridgestone facility in the US following a week-long shutdown. An additional 91 employees at the OTR tyre factory in Bloomington, Illinois were laid off on July 12, four months after 67 of their colleagues were let go. The company expects to re-hire 40 of these workers on August 1, however it comments that due to inventory levels and industry demand, 19 workers will also be laid off on August 15.

A statement released by Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations said the layoffs were necessary in order to “align our inventories with current replacement market and original equipment demand.” It added that the demand for OTR tyres is continuing to decline due to the current downturns in the construction and mining industries. The statement also hinted at further measures to counter this downturn: “We will continue to evaluate the marketplace, demand and our inventory levels, and will make future production-based decisions – up or down – that help our company survive this global financial crisis so that we can take advantage of the economic recovery when it occurs.”

Following the layoffs, the Bloomington plant will employ 204 workers.