Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plans to temporarily lay off about 300 hourly workers at a North Carolina plant because of the strike against the company by the United Steelworkers union, a Goodyear spokesman said on Wednesday.
The layoffs at the Asheboro, North Carolina, plant will begin after the workers' last shift on Friday, the spokesman, Ed Markey, said. Goodyear expects to recall the workers when the strike ends and tire production returns to normal, he said.
The plant, which was recently organized by the United Steelworkers, produces wire used in tires but was not among the facilities struck by the union.
About 15,000 union members went on strike Oct. 5 at 16 Goodyear plants in the United States and Canada after rejecting the company's latest contract proposal. Goodyear has sought plant closings, and wage and benefit concessions.
No new talks have been scheduled on the contract, which expired in July. The union's last strike at Goodyear in 1997 lasted about three weeks.
Shares of Goodyear were down 2 percent at $14.20 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Options analyst Frederic Ruffy of the education firm Optionetics said heavy buying of November and April $12.50 puts could be to aimed at protecting existing stock holdings due to the strike.
The strike includes eight U.S. tire plants; four U.S. engineered products plants that make belts, hoses and other rubber products; and four facilities in Ontario, Canada.
Goodyear, one of the world's largest tire makers along with Michelin (MICP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Bridgestone Corp. (5108.T: Quote, NEWS, Research), produces car and truck tires in North America, and tires for commercial aircraft and off-road construction and mining equipment.
The company has continued production at the 16 struck plants using salaried employees, and it continues to supply tires from nonunion plants in North America, facilities overseas and inventory. The tire maker has about 100 plants in 29 countries.
North American Tire is Goodyear's largest unit. It produced 101.9 million tires in 2005 and generated $9.09 billion of the company's total revenue of about $19.72 billion at both union and nonunion facilities.
