Goodyear cuts 500 French jobs over costs

Businessweek, January 24, 2008

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Thursday an uncompetitive cost structure will force its European Union business unit to cut 500 jobs and reduce tire production at two factories in Amiens, France.

The company said the move follows an October rejection by employees of Goodyear plans to modernize and renovate the plants. Goodyear employs about 3,800 people in France, of which 2,700 are in the Amiens plants.

"We have communicated extensively with the trade unions, explaining the need for major changes. These changes would increase our competitiveness. Unfortunately, they have rejected the plan to improve competitiveness. Therefore, we have no choice but to reduce our costs as the plants are currently uncompetitive," said Serge Lussier, Goodyear's Europe, Middle East and Africa vice president of manufacturing.

Goodyear said some tire production will be outsourced to lower-cost factories in Europe and elsewhere. Some products will be eliminated.

Lussier said the plan presented in October required investment of about $75 million across the two plants in large part to facilitate the supply of high performance tires. The new required work pattern would have involved four rotating crews working eight-hour shifts, including weekends, for 350 days a year.

 

OSHA cites Goodyear plant for five safety violations

ReliablePlant news wires, January 14, 2008

 

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed $52,000 in penalties against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for five safety violations discovered during an inspection of the company's manufacturing facility in Social Circle, Ga.

Inspectors cited the plant for two repeat violations and proposed $42,500 in penalties after they determined that management had failed to perform and certify periodic inspections of its energy control procedures and employees were using a production machine that lacked the proper safety guards. The company had been cited for similar failures after an inspection in 2006.

"OSHA expects management to take a proactive approach to employees' safety," said Gei-Thae Breezley, director of the agency's Atlanta-East Area Office. "Dangerous situations can be avoided if management conducts periodic inspections of their equipment and facilities as required by federal law."

OSHA also cited the plant for two serious safety violations with proposed penalties of $8,500 for using defective equipment cords that exposed employees to electrical hazards. An "other-than-serious" violation was proposed with a $1,000 penalty for failing to correctly maintain OSHA logs. A serious citation is issued when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. An other-than-serious violation is a hazardous condition that would probably not cause death or serious physical harm but would have an immediate relationship to the safety and health of employees.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to contest them and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.