Goodyear blows out 1,500 jobs, shutters European plants
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has announced plans to slash 1,500 jobs in an effort to save $50 million dollars. The world's largest tire company will reach those goals in part by shuttering plants in Britain and Poland.
Part of its restructuring efforts that began last September, the manufacturer will jettison 585 employees at its UK Goodyear Dunlop facility in Washington, and a smaller outpost in Wolverhampton will shed around 40 employees, leaving about 450 workers.
Additionally, Goodyear's Debica, Poland plant will stop making bicycle tires and inner tubes, pink-slipping 360 employees.
The rubber giant says that it expects to incur charges of around $105-115 million USD in the process of exacting the changes.
[Sources: The Australian; Associated Press]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kamil 2:31PM (4/07/2006)
Picture is perfect... sometimes I wonder where you guys find them.
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fun4all 2:33PM (4/07/2006)
The first to go should be the guy driving the blimp.
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bernie 2:36PM (4/07/2006)
Oh, the humanity!
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Paul 5:45PM (4/07/2006)
why would anyone buy goodyears anyway when higher quality tires are available from Toyo Kumho and Yokahama.
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scott 3 6:30PM (4/07/2006)
The picture is not accurate to Goodyears true health. Their blimp may have crashed but Goodyear is doing is sheading its old and unprofiatble divisions that should have be shead a long time ago.
Farm tires and bicycle are not a high profit market and should have been abandon by Goodyear long ago.
Goodyear moved from 120 to 112 on Forbes 500 this year and CEO Keegan is turning them around. Gibara the Egyptian ex Chariman that was a idiot and nearly ran them in the ground.
As for Quality tires they are and have been bringing new quality product and are making a great change.
The new Triple Tread Assurance tires are every bit as good or better than my past Toyo's and have 20,000 more miles of tread wear. I sell BFG and Yokahama tires but bought Goodyear. The others are good but after seeing what the Assurance tires are doing on my parents car I put them on my car once the 17" size came out. Now on the other hand I would not put Eagle GA's on a goat cart.
Fact is all tire companies have good and bad tire lines. Just because one hates a company just because it is American is closed minded.
FYI: the Stars and Stripes pictured above has been replace and Goodyear built a new blimp to replace the one lost in the thunderstorm. It just flew over the house the other day. They will name it Monday.
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Ashleigh 7:35AM (4/08/2006)
Washington? I was not aware we had anywhere called that in the UK? Coventry and Wolverhamton maybe (as they are the 'old' Dunlop plants).
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MacroEQ 12:37PM (4/08/2006)
Caption should be:
"I think I better park next time Dear"
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