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Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has agreed to pay out US$925,000 in compensation to women who were denied employment as tyre makers at the company’s factory in Virginia. Details of this payment were made by the US Labor Department on January 16, after an administrative law judge approved a consent decree to resolve a lawsuit filed by approximately 800 women denied jobs at the Danville, Virginia plant in the late 1990s.
(Akron/Tire Review) CBC has reported that union workers at Goodyear’s Valleyfield, Quebec, tire plant and government officials are working on a plan to maintain tire production at the plant. Earlier this month, Goodyear announced it would cease tire production there, converting the plant to rubber mixing and cutting some 800 jobs.
The Jeep Trailhawk concept vehicle displayed at this year’s Detroit auto show has given Goodyear a golden opportunity to display its own concept products. The hefty-looking Trailhawk sits upon specially crafted tyres and large five-spoke 22-inch wheels. The total combined diameter of the wheel and tyre is a massive 34 inches.
Having already committed itself to closing plants in the US, Canada, UK and New Zealand, Goodyear tire & Rubber Co has announced its intention to close its manufacturing facility in Casablanca, Morocco, by the end of 2007. Approximately 150 jobs will be cut as a result of the closure.
Goodyear is offering union employees retirement incentives of as much as US$40,000 in an attempt to cut their US workforce by 400 jobs. These incentives, or buyouts, are being offered at four of the company’s union plants as part of the new three-year contract ratified between Goodyear and the United Steelworkers of America.
The incentives, which are intended to help Goodyear reduce spending and compete against competitors with lower labour costs, will be offered to workers in February. Employees who accept the offer will be entitled to a once-off cash payment equal to US$2,000 for each year the have been employed by Goodyear, up to a maximum of US40,000. All employees taking up the offer will receive at least US$8,000, and will be eligible for the healthcare benefits given to retirees.
The final tyre has been produced at the Bridgestone/Firestone plant in Oklahoma City only eight months after Bridgestone Firestone North America announced its impending closure. The plant produced budget tyres for the low-end segment of the market, a market where demand has been shrinking in the face of vigorous overseas competition.
The tyremaker has disclosed that the Oklahoma City facility, which had a daily output of more than 26,000 tyres, recorded a loss of US$40 million (£20.5 million).
(Akron/Tire Review) According to Associated Press reports, Goodyear officials said that “hundreds” of striking United Steelworkers employees have returned to their jobs at Goodyear plants. USW locals, however, dispute that assessment. A Goodyear spokesman told the AP that production levels at struck plants are increasing as strikers return to work and the company hires additional temporary workers. Some 16,500 workers at 16 of Goodyear’s North American plants have been on strike since 5 October. No master contract negotiations have been held since talks broke off in mid-November.
2006 has been a highly competitive year for the tyres, exhausts & batteries industry, although some companies have been enjoying historically high margins. But 2007 promises even tougher times, according to David Pattison, senior analyst with Plimsoll. His findings are based on Plimsoll’s Portfolio Analysis – Tyres, Exhausts & Batteries.
Looking at the tyres, exhausts & batteries market over the past 12 months, while growth was a healthy 6 per cent, well above inflation, almost a third of the 1000 companies monitored by Plimsoll saw a fall in sales. This indicates that much of the growth is being shared by a select band of firms. The effect has been that the industry has begun heading in a new direction, and the companies which have found themselves lagging behind have been slow to recognise this.
On December 8 Bridgestone Firestone North America outlined its intention to invest at least US$33 million in its Aiken County, South Carolina tyre plant in the next four years as part of plans to purchase new production facilities and retool existing equipment.
According to the manufacturer Tripoint’s SureSeal Rimless System is the highest temperature rubber seal on the market and is less expensive to use than competing products. Tests performed by Bergey’s Retread Technologies demonstrated SureSeal’s performance. “Tripoint’s SureSeal is lasting three times longer than the rubber seals we used previously, saving Bergey’s more than 30 per cent on replacement cost,” says Mike Ellinger, general manager for Bergey’s Retread Technologies.
(Akron/Tire Review) The United Steelworkers claims that Goodyear has placed ads in “several North Carolina newspapers” apparently looking to attract experienced tyre plant workers to work as replacements at its plants. Goodyear’s 12 unionized North American tyre plants are being picketed by the USW.
29 managers have lost their jobs at Goodyear Dunlop UK. The job losses are part of a restructuring programme, which will cut around 100 jobs in total. The management cuts will almost exclusively be from positions at the company’s TyreFort headquarters in Birmingham, with about 69 job losses coming from non office-based staff. However, at least some of the jobs lost at Hi-Q and TruckForce depots are a question of administration, with employment simply transferring to the various holders of the new franchise agreement instead of Goodyear Dunlop itself.
Striking Goodyear employees have warned the public to think carefully when choosing new tyres for their vehicle in the next few months. Their concerns are based upon potential safety issues posed by Goodyear tyres manufactured by replacement non-union labour.
“These tyres aren’t being built by professionals that know what they’re doing,” stated striking worker Tom Angell. “They’re just people they’ve pulled out of temporary agencies. People that have basically never built tyres before in their life.”
Serbia’s second largest tyre manufacturer, Trayal Corp., is soon to be sold and therefore privatised. According to reports, the privatisation agency in Serbia has announced a public tender to bid for the traditional state-owned company. The Bulgarian power supplier Brikel EAD has now made the highest offer and will soon start to negotiate the details of the deal with the agency, local media sources wrote. The bid was £8.2 million for a majority share plus modernisation investments of up to £16.9 million.
A Lincolnshire tyre retail chain owner has won recognition for his decision to offer a second chance to young people who fear they are on the scrap heap. The Shaw Trust award recognises businesses that offer training and career opportunities to young people. Fossit and Thorne’s John Shelton now owns the chain of seven tyre and auto centres with his financial director Richard King, but nearly took a wrong turn himself, when he was expelled from school at 15.
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