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14 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 30/2003
G oodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s further downsizing at a major UK tyre factory is a big concern to two ICEM affiliates, the Transport & General Workers' Union (T&G) and AMICUS. In the wake of signing a three-year labour accord with the United Steelworkers of America that the firm admits will save US$1.5 billion, US-based Goodyear announced 23 September that it will cut 420 jobs from its Wolverhampton plant in West Midlands effective 23 December.
The announcement means that a plant once producing 30,000 car, truck and tractor tyres annually with 3,000 workers will be reduced to making only some farm tyres as well as compounding stock and calendaring with fewer than 500 workers. Last week's announcement will pare a current workforce of 900 to about half that two days before Christmas.
"It's sad. They've just cut it, cut it, and cut it some more," said AMICUS regional official Bill Holmes, a member of the ICEM's Goodyear Global Union Network Steering Committee. "It's what they've said they were going to do all along, move production to lower cost plants."
AMICUS represents engineering staff and area managers at the Wolverhampton plant, while T&G represents tyre production workers. Each union will lose roughly half of the 420 jobs that are going. Production of radial tyres for cars and light trucks likely will be shifted to Goodyear plants in Eastern Europe.
T&G Wolverhampton Union Convenor Cyril Barrett was outraged that UK's Department of Trade and Industry and local development agencies haven't done more to protect jobs. "Since 1997, around 2,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost," he said. "The slow bleeding of jobs and skills has drained the lifeblood out of the Goodyear facility."
Barrett stated in the Birmingham Evening Mail: "The most frustrating thing is that the Department of Trade and Industry was asked by my national officers to get involved in (job retention this past) June. My members are now aware that Advantage West Midlands gave a 1.9-million-pound grant to Goodyear Dunlop to (shift jobs). My question is if they can give (such) a grant, why have they not engaged in discussions regarding Goodyear Wolverhampton?"
Although Goodyear intends to retain a retread plant on site, Holmes wonders what the future holds for a plant that produces compound mixing and calendaring without full-scale tyre production. He's working on options to secure stability to the jobs remaining at Wolverhampton.
The plant downsizing comes at a time when financially-troubled Goodyear states that operating income from Europe has improved and that its non-US operations have been a bright spot on its financial ledger. A day after Goodyear made the Wolverhampton announcement, the firm said it would invest US$30 million in two existing plants in India.
The announcement means that a plant once producing 30,000 car, truck and tractor tyres annually with 3,000 workers will be reduced to making only some farm tyres as well as compounding stock and calendaring with fewer than 500 workers. Last week's announcement will pare a current workforce of 900 to about half that two days before Christmas.
"It's sad. They've just cut it, cut it, and cut it some more," said AMICUS regional official Bill Holmes, a member of the ICEM's Goodyear Global Union Network Steering Committee. "It's what they've said they were going to do all along, move production to lower cost plants."
AMICUS represents engineering staff and area managers at the Wolverhampton plant, while T&G represents tyre production workers. Each union will lose roughly half of the 420 jobs that are going. Production of radial tyres for cars and light trucks likely will be shifted to Goodyear plants in Eastern Europe.
T&G Wolverhampton Union Convenor Cyril Barrett was outraged that UK's Department of Trade and Industry and local development agencies haven't done more to protect jobs. "Since 1997, around 2,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost," he said. "The slow bleeding of jobs and skills has drained the lifeblood out of the Goodyear facility."
Barrett stated in the Birmingham Evening Mail: "The most frustrating thing is that the Department of Trade and Industry was asked by my national officers to get involved in (job retention this past) June. My members are now aware that Advantage West Midlands gave a 1.9-million-pound grant to Goodyear Dunlop to (shift jobs). My question is if they can give (such) a grant, why have they not engaged in discussions regarding Goodyear Wolverhampton?"
Although Goodyear intends to retain a retread plant on site, Holmes wonders what the future holds for a plant that produces compound mixing and calendaring without full-scale tyre production. He's working on options to secure stability to the jobs remaining at Wolverhampton.
The plant downsizing comes at a time when financially-troubled Goodyear states that operating income from Europe has improved and that its non-US operations have been a bright spot on its financial ledger. A day after Goodyear made the Wolverhampton announcement, the firm said it would invest US$30 million in two existing plants in India.