En-tyre workforce slashed

Unite today (Wednesday October 7) accused Goodyear of a ‘sham consultation’ after the company confirmed it would be closing its only UK plant.

The mixing and re-treading facility in Wolverhampton has been running from the West Midlands site for more than 90 years and at its height employed 7,000 workers.

Today’s workforce is 330 strong. Some of them are set to get their redundancy notices this New Year’s Eve.

The decision has been made to end production in January 2017 despite the plant having high levels of productivity and efficiency.

Nothing short of a sham

“The consultation with Goodyear over the closure of a highly productive and efficient plant has been nothing short of a sham,” said Gerard Coyne, Unite regional secretary for the West Midlands.

Unite commissioned independent analysts, Syndex UK to examine the business case for the closure and alternatives that Goodyear could have considered, but was met with a point blank refusal by management to release critical information.

“Management’s refusal to release key information and its stonewalling over the business case for the closure leads us to conclude that it was taken because UK workers are easier to fire than their European counterparts,” said Gerard.

The site has a long history of loyal workers. In 1939 it switched to war production and factory workers worked 20 days on and just one day off.

Betrayed

“Staff have worked hard to make the Wolverhampton factory a success and feel betrayed. Unite will be doing everything it can to support our members and ensure they aren’t left high and dry by Goodyear,” added Gerard.

The UK has far weaker employment laws for workers than its European mainland counterparts making it cheaper and easier to sack UK workers.

Unite has previously asked business secretary Sajid Javid to intervene in the proposed closure. A decision which is thought to be political by US bosses as an offering to shareholders.

“We asked Sajid Javid to intervene with Goodyear in America, so that UK workers have a level playing field when their jobs could go to less productive, less profitable plants in France or Germany,” said Gerard.

The company have said that its focus is to find responsible and fair solutions for the employees affected by the decision, including the opportunity to apply for vacancies at other locations. However the Wolverhampton plant is the company’s only UK site.

More than 1,600 people signed a petition during the summer against Goodyear’s plans to close the plant.

The plant closure will be a huge blow to the local economy and to UK manufacturing. Worldwide Goodyear employs around 75,000 people with factories in the US, South America, Asia and Europe.

“It’s a massive blow to the city as well as those who work here,” said Andy Taylor, Unite regional officer.

Shameful

“There has been a lot of investment here and workers have worked hard to turn things around. This is shameful,” he added.

The news of the closure comes a little over a year after the US company shut its Dunlop motorsport factory in Birmingham.

 

“Unite will also continue to press the government to live up to its rhetoric of ‘march of the makers’ by intervening and supporting UK manufacturing, said Gerard.