The workers, backed by the city of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, southwest of Montreal, launched an online petition (mobilisationvalleyfield.com) Friday to shore up support for their campaign to convince Goodyear to reverse its decision to close down the tire production factory.

Goodyear announced in early January it would shut down the plant and lay off about 800 workers as early as June 2007. The company wants to redesign the factory and transform it into a rubber-mixing centre for tire material — a venture that would create about 200 jobs.

Workers and municipal leaders are concerned the closure will have a ripple effect in the Valleyfield region, where nearly 3,000 jobs are indirectly tied to the Goodyear plant, explained the town’s mayor, Denis Lapointe.

With the online petition, workers hope to galvanize public support for the factory’s survival.

"If we convince the population that in buying Goodyear, or by supporting our action, [then] we can convince the company that…we have the support of the consumer. Then they might react positively to our new proposals," Lapointe said Friday at the Montreal auto show, where the petition was officially launched.

Workers at the plant say they’re willing to work with Goodyear to come up with an alternative solution to make the factory more lucrative, by shifting production to specialized tires.

The provincial and federal governments have offered $250,000 to the workers’ union to help it in its efforts.

Goodyear said it has no plans to back away from the plant closure.