On December 15 Cooper Tire & Rubber gave word that the United Steelworkers of America Local 752L, the chapter representing workers at the company’s Texarkana, Arkansas facility, has ratified a new three-year contract with Cooper after workers voted ‘overwhelmingly’ in favour of it on December 13.
SmarTire Systems has signed a definitive agreement to sell its business and related assets to Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, the North American affiliate of Germany’s Knorr-Bremse Group. The December 10 transaction immediately incorporates SmarTire’s assets into Bendix’ electronic business unit, and proceeds from the sale will be held in a third party account subject to SmarTire obtaining shareholder consent at a meeting to be held in March, 2009. The company says it expects to apply all, or a substantial proportion, of the proceeds from the sale against its debt obligations. Following the transaction, SmarTire will change its name to TTC Technology, Inc.
Amtel Vredestein N.V. (AVNV) has announced that its subsidiary company OJSC Amtel-Vredestein (OJSC AV), the holding company of the group’s Russian business, is no longer able to satisfy its creditors’ demands. The AVNV executive board has determined that, due to the financial difficulties AVNV faces, it will not be able to provide any additional finance to OJSC AV. This development, says the company, may have “consequences for the going concern status of AVNV”, given a number of guarantees provided by AVNV in favour of the creditors of OJSC AV.
Production at two factories operated by Goodyear in Turkey will be halted for ten days in December and January, says the president of the country’s petroleum, chemical and tyre union. The factories in Adapazari and Kocaeli will be closed between December 12 and 17 and then from January 2 – 7 due to reduced demand. Union president Abdullah Karacan added that production at the factories had decreased between 30 per cent and 60 per cent.
Goodyear will stop production at its Fayetteville, US factory between December 24 and January 2, reports the Fayetteville Observer. According to the newspaper, the week and a half pause was officially announced on 5th December, although it hardly came as a surprise. We’ve known it was coming,” the paper quotes Daryl Jackson, president of United Steelworkers Local 959, as saying.
The Board of Directors of Titan International has approved a quarterly cash dividend of US$.005 per common share for the fourth quarter of 2008. The cash dividend is payable January 15, 2009, to stockholders of record on December 31, 2008
A former Bridgestone Corporation executive has received a two-year prison sentence for his role in the marine hose bribery and price fixing affair uncovered in 2007. On December 9 the US Justice Department announced that Misao Hioki, who entered a guilty plea in a US district court in Houston, Texas, received the prison sentence plus a US$80,000 fine. Hioki is the ninth person to plead guilty during the Justice Department’s investigation.
Production at the Amtel-Povolzhye factory in Kirov, Russia has resumed as of December 8. Operations at the Amtel-Vredestein subsidiary facility had been suspended due to a lack of working capital following the foundering of merger talks between its parent company and Sibur-Russian Tyres. This pause in production was reported to have been scheduled only for the period between October 11 and 20, however the resumption of work was repeatedly postponed.
During voting that took place on December 7 and 8 the United Steelworkers of America Local 207L ratified a new three-year contract with Cooper Tire & Rubber. The contract, set to expire on October 31, 2011, relates to Cooper’s Factory in Findlay, Ohio.
“This contract was very different from any negotiations we have faced before,” said Mark W. Krivoruchka, Cooper’s senior vice president, Global Human Resources. “The Local 207L committee needed to adjust wages and working conditions in a way that makes Cooper more cost competitive in the marketplace. I would like to thank the local and international union leadership as well as membership and acknowledge the good work they provided to approve and ratify a contract that positions the Findlay plant more competitively in today’s uncertain economic environment.”
The US based tyre chain Les Schwab Tire Centers announced on December 8 that its new company headquarters office located in Bend, Oregon, opened for business on Monday, November 17, 2008. Over 100 employees relocated to a 123,000 square-foot office building in the north end of Bend. The remaining 220 corporate employees move to the building on December 15, 2008.
“The new headquarters office is part of a transition beginning in 2007 to ensure the people, facilities and programs are in place to support our tyre centres and their ability to continue providing world-class customer service,” said Dick Borgman, CEO of Les Schwab Tire Centers. “With our new headquarters we will continue to attract and retain the talented employees needed to support our retail network of 420 stores and to accommodate future growth.”
The management of Bridgestone Australia Ltd Group has paid tribute to Mark Skaife, who took the wheel for his final V8 Supercar race on the weekend of December 6–7 after announcing his retirement from the sport earlier in 2008. Skaife’s achievements, comment Bridgestone, make him one of the sport’s greatest champions.
During his racing career Skaife gained a record-equalling five Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championships, a number only equalled by Ian Geoghegan and Dick Johnson. He also won five Bathurst 1000 titles and a record 40 Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship round victories. Skaife also won three consecutive Australian Drivers’ Championships (1991-93).
The Australian Rally Championship will be raced without a control tyre in 2009. The announcement that the upcoming season wouldn’t see the introduction of such a measure was made on December 6, following ongoing consultation between the Australian Rally Commission (ARCom) and tyre manufacturers during the course of 2008. The ARCom eventually decided the overall interests of the championship would be best served by continuing to work with the tyre companies throughout 2009 to ensure tyre parity between Group N and the lighter Super 2000 vehicles. The option remains, however, for the introduction of a control tyre at a later time.
Leading Indian tyre maker, Apollo has announced that it has cut its prices across its product range by around four per cent. India has reduced its Cenvat (Central VAT) by the same figure on 7 December. Apollo’s price cut is effective as of 1 December.
On December 3 Continental AG was removed from the Frankfurt stock exchange’s DAX index. The Deutsche Börse relegated Conti from the DAX to the MDAX mid-cap index because the company’s market capitalisation no longer fulfilled DAX criteria. The decision was taken regarding Continental’s market capitalisation on the evening of December 2, and the company will appear in the MDAX as of December 22.
Pasadena Tournament of Roses Queen, Courtney Chou Lee and Royal Court, Princesses Mary Gaule, Jasmine Jenkins, Bridget McDonald, Molly Novell, Lauren Valenzuela and Quinn Young are to take to the air aboard the world famous Goodyear blimp, following in the now traditional footsteps of all Pasadena Rose Court winners before them.
For over 35 years the seven members of the Royal Court have been invited to fly in the Goodyear blimp, which is based in Carson, California. As one of the more than 150 community and media events the Royal Court will attend, the blimp ride has become one of the highlights of their year-long reign. The ambassadors of the Tournament of Roses will fly aboard Goodyear’s aerial ambassador today (3 December).
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