Tyres & Accessories – The Web site RusBusinessNews reports that Sibur-Russian Tyres will end the manufacture of non-military products at its Ekaterinburg Urals tyre plant, resulting in the redundancy of two-thirds of its workforce.
Demand for the cross-ply tyres produced by the factory is steadily falling, and despite considering investing in modernisation, Sibur-Russian opted not to do so has the equipment and construction work involved would have taken more than a decade to repay costs. The only product made by the Urals plant still in demand is a roller for tanks.
Production volumes have dropped by 77.5% in the first half of 2009, RusBusinessNews reports, and the company has incurred losses of 131.9 million roubles (£2.7 million). In April 2009 a sale of the plant looked possible, however the deal fell through. Now experts do not exclude the possibility that the facility might be declared bankrupt, and the staff remaining after 609 of their colleagues have been laid off will be engaged in military contracts.
The local regional trade union federation informed RusBusinessNews that the right to work of those being laid off will be protected by all available means, and it cannot rule out the picketing of the Sibur headquarters in Moscow by trade unionists.
