Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has approved a plan to offer voluntary buyouts to some employees at its Gadsden, Alabama manufacturing plant, according to a document filed Sept. 16 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goodyear says in the document that this is part of a strategy to “strengthen the competitiveness of its manufacturing footprint by curtailing production of tires for declining, less profitable segments of the tire market.”
Employees eligible for the buyouts must submit applications by Nov. 1. The number of employees taking the buyout is dependent on the number of eligible associates who apply for buyouts and the company’s acceptance of those applications, the document stated.
Earlier this year, the company announced there would be buyouts but did not specify when they might begin. In 2015, the company said about 1,500 people were employed at the plant. That was the same year the company began a $30.1 million expansion of the factory.