Subsidised imports killed Goodyear plant – USW

The United Steelworkers union has expressed its disappointment in the notification of redundancy given to workers at Goodyear’s Union City factory. In a press statement, USW International president Leo W. Gerard said “we are very angered by the company’s announcement yesterday to close its Union City, Tennessee facility. The harm being done over the years by our government’s inaction and manufacturers’ ongoing deindustrialisation of the economy is relentless. Unfortunately, nothing we can say minimises the impact this decision has on the lives of our members who work there, their families and the community. But we will continue to fight to help them in this tragic situation.”

The union’s vice-president, Tom Conway, believes the Union City plant’s viability was undermined by imported tyres whose prices were kept artificially low: “We did our best to keep this plant running, but the flood of subsidised foreign product in the marketplace and our stagnant domestic economy were too much to overcome. Our success in winning a 421 trade case in September 2009 probably provided the plant with two more years of life it otherwise might not have had.” The USW case was filed in April 2009 under the Section 421 provision of the amended U.S. Trade Act of 1974 in order to demonstrate that subsidised foreign-made tyres were putting American plants out of business.

According to the USW, its attempts to persuade Goodyear to introduce higher-margin tyres into the Union City production mix were unsuccessful. Secretary-treasurer Stan Johnson commented that “we tried also to convince the company to put different product lines in the Union City facility, but its response was that it did not need the capacity in the North American market.”

Concluding the union’s position on the announcement, Tom Conway said “our heart goes out to all of our members there as they embark on a transition, which is too common these days: hard working Americans, their families and communities suffering the loss of skilled production jobs because of our country’s inability to adequately enforce trade laws designed to maintain a level playing field in the global marketplace.”