Titan International announces temporary layoffs

Citing “weak market conditions that are not expected to improve during 2016,” Titan International has given word of layoffs that will take place at its Bryan plant in the US state of Ohio. The layoffs will begin on 8 February 2016 and affect at least 130 employees. Bumping rights – the practice of letting more junior employees go first – will apply to workers covered by the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the United Steelworkers union.

In a letter signed by Titan International operations manager Thomas Ort, the tyre maker says it “anticipates these layoffs will be temporary and last a minimum of six months, with the possibility that some or all of the layoffs will last twelve months of longer.” The letter ads that some layoffs may become permanent “if market conditions do not improve.”

The Bryan facility came into the Titan fold through the company’s 2006 acquisition of Continental Tire North America’s OTR tyre assets. The plant produces larger earthmoving, construction and mining tyres, including giant tyres.

Titan’s letter can be read here.