Several U.K. papers reported employees at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Wolverhampton plant are upset about a job notification posted in the plant. The notification offered plant employees, at a facility Goodyear recently announced it was closing, positions at a facility in Mexico.
Employees at the plant had previously been told they might be offered other jobs with the tiremaker when the plant announced its closure, according to media.
A relocation more than 5,000 miles away, however, wasn’t expected. Many told media the notification was a “kick in the teeth,” while others said they didn’t know “whether to laugh or cry.”
The job notification, which was for positions in human resources, production and quality departments at the tiremaker’s San Luis Potosi plant, wasn’t directed specifically at Wolverhampton employees, Goodyear said.
“As a global company, we periodically notify our associates about job opportunities in other locations,” Goodyear Dunlop public relations and communications director James Bailey told Tyres & Accessories. “This employment notification was made available to all of our associates, not just the associates affected by our Wolverhampton proposal.”
Goodyear announced the closure of its Wolverhampton facility at the end of the June. Shutting down the plant is part of Goodyear’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business unit restructuring plans. The plant closure will result in the loss of roughly 330 jobs.
