Jobs
Cooper has notified workers at the company’s Texarkana plant of its intention to cut 400 – 500 jobs, switching the factory to a “flex” facility. Local newspapers are reporting that the factory will go to a “five-day, three-crew schedule during the second quarter of 2007.” As a result production is expected to drop 30 per cent. Production will then be decreased a further 15 per cent in 2008.
(Akron/Tire Review – Asiaport) China’s automobile output in 2006 will exceed 7 million cars, making a big leap from 5.7 million cars in 2005, forecasted by Zhang Xiaoyu, the deputy head of China Machinery Industry Federation, and chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China. China’s automobile industry has become an integral part of the national economy after rapidly growing in the first five years of the new century. In 2005, the whole industry generated output value of approximately $151 billion and contributed near $25 billion taxes directly and indirectly, as well as providing 17 million jobs.
(Akron/Tire Review) A lawmaker in Liberia’s lower house of parliament has called on the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to deploy troops on a plantation owned by Firestone Natural Rubber Co. to prevent its takeover by a criminal gang. A gang styling itself the “Bad Boys of Bomi County” recently threatened in a leaflet to occupy the plantation at Harbel, Liberia’s largest employer.
Seven former employees of Stirling-based Truck Retreads have been awarded a total of £33,800. The workers took Truck Retreads to an employment tribunal in a bid to recover redundancy payments they said they were owed. They were told they would lose their jobs in March when the company announced that it would stop trading.
Former Continental Tire workers and their allies rallied in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, after the annual Labour Day Parade on 4 September. They were protesting layoffs and free-trade agreements that harm workers. And they demanded a living wage of at least $10 an hour in Charlotte. According to local, pro-union news sources, the workers vowed to continue their fight for good jobs at living wages.
The head of one of the UK’s leading specialist rubber recycling companies says there should be more recognition for the contribution such firms make to protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, creating jobs and boosting exports. Michael Hopkinson, chairman of Rosehill Polymers of Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, says that dealing with the UK’s huge amount of waste rubber is a growing problem which needs to be addressed urgently at government level. Rosehill Polymers, established nearly 30 years ago, utilises around 3,600 tonnes of recycled tyre rubber annually most of which is converted into products for the rail industry by a system which incorporates Rosehill’s own Flexilon polyurethane binder formulation.
Power-Tec Ltd has introduced the 1,500kg capacity Mobi-Lift mobile vehicle lift for use with cars, 4x4s and light commercial vehicles. It is a single-post lift, offering 1,000mm lift height within 35 seconds and operates from a standard 230V 13 amp power supply.
A Canadian union leader has said that expansion plans for a Michelin plant on Canada’s east coast expose “the company’s long-term strategy to rid itself of unionised plants.” Michelin is to expand its non-unionised factory in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, with a provincial contribution of between $3 million and $8 million, a government source told the Canadian press. Dozens of jobs will be created according to reports.
Two simultaneous fires at Phillip White Tyre depots in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland have caused half a million pounds of damage, according to proprietor Phillip White. As a result up to 10 staff may loose their jobs. Phillip White Tyres premises have been targeted three times before, twice in Armagh and once in another location. Phillip White said he was “devastated” about the latest incidents, but hopes to have businesses running as normal as possible in the coming weeks.
Having closed its unionised tyre plant in Mayfield, Kentucky, and all but closed its unionised Charlotte tyre plant, Continental Tire North America (CTNA) has turned its attention to upgrading its non-union plant in Mount Vernon, Illinois. Last week, CTNA announced a three-year, $70 million to $100 million capital investment programme for the facility – the only dedicated and operating tyre plant CTNA owns in North America.
(Akron/Tire Review) Continental Tire North America (CTNA) announced today that it has decided to close its former Mayfield, Kentucky., tyre plant. The plant, which has only served as a warehouse and rubber mixing facility since CTNA ended tyremaking there in December 2004, will be shuttered completely within six months, the company said.
Bandag, Incorporated reported consolidated net sales for second quarter 2006 of $247.3 million compared to consolidated net sales of $227.3 million in second quarter 2005, an increase of nine percent. Consolidated net sales were positively impacted by approximately $4.1 million due to the effect of translating foreign currency denominated net sales into U.S. dollars. Consolidated net earnings were $10.5 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, for second quarter 2006, compared to second quarter 2005 consolidated net earnings of $12.7 million, or $0.65 per diluted share.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will cut more than 150 positions in its European business unit in order to create annual savings in selling, administrative and general expenses of over $10 million. “Concurrent with efforts to grow our top line through innovative new products and marketing, we are intensely focused on reducing the company’s global cost structure,” said Goodyear chairman and CEO Robert J. Keegan. “Our objective is to achieve cost reductions totalling between $750 million and $1 billion by 2008, including $150 million to $200 million in SAG (sales administration and general) costs.”
As a part of Supply Direct’s ongoing social responsibility policy, the company recently worked with the Romanian Challenge Appeal to install a range of garage equipment in the small town of Siret in Romania, just beside the Ukrainian border. Kwik Fit and Farmer Autocare founder Sir Tom Farmer was the driving force behind the initiative.
(Akron/Tire Review) The Associated Press has reported that the US Labor Department has filed a hiring discrimination suit against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The suit alleges the tyremaker discriminated against female applicants for jobs at its Danville, Virginia, tyre plant in the 1990s.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
