The statutory negotiations between Nokian Tyres and labour union leaders regarding possible lay-offs ended in a mutual agreement the day after they began.
Both parties agreed that a maximum of 700 staff in the car tyre production segment of the business would be gradually laid off during this year and next.
Continental AG has announced that it will reduce the number of staff working at its Hanover-Stöcken plant by 10 per cent, by the end of 2006. The job losses will affect 320 tyre production employees.
“The unexpectedly weak growth in passenger tyre sales…left us no other choice in the end but to schedule discontinuation of passenger tyre production in Stöcken as of 31 December 2006 and to demonstrate cost-optimised flexibility at other plants by cutting back the number of shifts,” said Manfred Wennemer, chairman of the executive board of Continental AG and board member responsible for the Passenger and Light Truck Tires division.
SmarTire Systems Inc has published its results for the financial year ended 31 July 2005. The company reported revenue of $1.46 million compared to $1.66 million in 2004. Net loss for the year totalled $14.3 million compared with losses of $11 million in 2004.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co has partnered with Tredit Tire & Wheel Company, Inc to provide tyre and wheel assemblies to original equipment trailer manufacturers. Tredit is a leading supplier of wheel and tyre and wheel packages for trailers used in the recreational vehicle, cargo, horse/livestock, boat and utility segments.
(Akron/Tire Review) Continental Tire North America Inc (CTNA) said it has begun negotiations with the United Steelworkers (USW) for a new labour agreement at its Charlotte, NC tyre manufacturing plant.
The current labour agreement, initiated on 20 September 1999, does not expire until 30 April 2006, according to CTNA, but the tyremaker wanted to begin negotiations now to “address high manufacturing costs,” the company said.
Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc is to sell its aftermarket brake controller business to Hayes Brake Controller Company, a limited liability corporation formed by Syncro Corporation of Arab, Alabama. Under the agreement Hayes Brake Controller Company will acquire all inventory, assets and intellectual property necessary to the operation of the aftermarket brake controller business. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
(Akron/Tire Review) Tire Pros/Am-Pac Tire Distributors Inc has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Latham Tire Co and its Autotire Car Care Centers business for an undisclosed amount. The agreement, expected to close shortly, brings the number of Tire Pros’ national retail stores to 300.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) has reached a settlement agreement with Ford Motor Co on “outstanding financial issues” tied to BFNAT’s August 2000 Firestone Wilderness tire recall and Ford’s subsequent May 2001 tire replacement program. In the agreement, BFNAT will pay Ford some $240 million. BFNAT said the deal “settles all remaining matters between the two companies related to these campaigns.”
(Akron/Tire Review) The United Steelworkers (USW) and Continental Tire North America (CTNA) reached an agreement for CTNA to provide “enhanced severance benefits” to hourly workers who lost their jobs when the tiremaker suspended production at its Mayfield, Ky., tire plant last year. The tentative agreement was finalized 15 September, and the ratification vote was held 30 September.
(Akron/Tire Review) Federal-Mogul Corp can see light at the end of the bankruptcy tunnel, thanks to a key agreement that was reached late last week between the company and administrators in the UK that will settling outstanding asbestos claims. The agreement is seen as key to allowing Federal-Mogul to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy after some four years.
Sumitomo Corp, the third-largest trading house in Japan, said it has reached an agreement to acquire US automobile tyre retailer TBC Corp this year for some 120 billion yen (£600 million). Sumitomo said it will complete the acquisition at the end of December. The acquisition is intended to solidify Sumitomo’s existing tyre business and increase profits by expanding into tyre retailing, the company said in a statement. The Japanese company plans to expand its tyre business in the U.S. by adding TBC’s more than 1,000 retail stores to its Treadways Corp. wholesaling business.
Continental Tire North America Inc has reached a tentative agreement with union representatives on a severance package for hourly employees laid off last year at the company’s Mayfield, Kentucky, plant. Details of the agreement have not been disclosed, pending a ratification vote by laid-off workers represented by the United Steelworkers of America, the Charlotte Business Journal Reported.
(Akron/Tire Review) Kumho Tire Co has signed a deal to provide First Automobile Works (FAW), China’s largest vehicle manufacturer, with tyre manufacturing know-how. FAW, which operates one of Volkswagen’s two Chinese joint ventures, will then be able to produce its own tyres for passenger vehicles.
The $150 million cooperation agreement was signed last week during the China Jilin Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo. The expo was attended by Chinese and South Korean vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, amid signs, according to reports, that Korean manufacturers are increasingly interested in sourcing components from China.
(Akron/Tire Review) United Steelworkers’ (USW) international leadership has extended approval to Titan Tire Corp to start negotiations with USW Local 745 in Freeport, Illinois. This move is a significant step towards Titan’s pending purchase of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co’s North American agricultural tyre business. Under the terms of Goodyear’s contract with the USW, any purchaser must reach a new contract agreement with the union.
(Akron/Tire Review) There may not be a strike at Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire’s (BFNAT) truck tyre plant in Warren County, Tennessee, after all. United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1155 leaders yesterday announced that they would allow rank and file members to re-vote on BFNAT’s master contract offer, beginning today.
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