Goodyear to cut 500 jobs in England

WOLVERHAMPTON, England ( Jan. 12)—Goodyear will go ahead with 500 threatened job cuts at its Wolverhampton tire plant after the 3,200 employees there overwhelmingly rejected an offer to save 200 jobs in return for agreeing a new shift pattern. The company´s plan involved moving to a five-shift pattern from the current system of four shifts; this would have cut the working week for manufacturing employees to 37.5 hours from 42 hours with a commensurate 11-percent loss of pay. "This decision by the workforce means that it will be extremely difficult to build a future for the plant," Goodyear said in a a Jan. 8 statement following the rejection of its proposal. The management plan, which had the support of the Transport & General—the main trade union at the plant—was rejected by around 70 percent of the workforce, according to a company spokesman. Goodyear had presented its option as "a solution to the cost and productivity problems that make the Wolverhampton plant unable to compete in global tire markets."