Amy Brei, Goodyear manager of manufacturing communications, said the company seeks to close the plant because of a lack of demand for rubber.
“The reason is there is decreased demand from our North American tire plants, which is where the rubber in our Tyler plant went, so the additional mixing capacity is no longer needed,” Brei said.
Efforts to reach Harold Sweat, United Steelworkers Local 746L president, were unsuccessful this afternoon. Sweat will answer what offsetting allowances would be made for the workers. Brei said the local union would determine the voting date.
Goodyear stock was down 48 cents, at $16.50, in late-morning trading.
All Goodyear tire plants have mixing capability. The Tyler plant and a plant in Valleyfield, Quebec, supply additional mixing capability, she said. Brei said the company does not have plans to close the Valleyfield facility.
The United Steelworkers’ master contract, which expires in July 2009, requires the company to shut down its Valleyfield, Quebec, plant before it closes the Tyler plant, but Brei said USW Local 746L ratification of the closure would remove that provision.
The closing would impact approximately 60 positions, which is in addition to a previously announced reduction of 110 positions that was to take effect in August.
Goodyear, in a statement, referred to the Tyler operation as a “rubber-mixing facility,” which it has been since January.
During the last contract negotiations between the company and the USW, the union struggled to keep the Tyler plant open, and the three-year master contract guaranteed the Tyler plant would be kept open through Dec. 31, 2007.
The company, however, ceased tire production there, reduced the plant’s employee base by several hundred people and retained the plant as a rubber-mixing operation.
Brei said the company has not decided if it will retain or sell the land and buildings, on Texas Highway 31 West, if the mixing operation is closed.
“There are no plans yet, one way or the other, for this facility,” she said. (Tire Review/Akron)
