Goodyear Dunlop axes EMEA farm tire business, moves to close Amiens

ERJ staff report (BC)

Brussels - Goodyear's EMEA management and Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe B.V. (GDT Europe) announced today (31 January) that they intend to exit the farm tire business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

The project remains subject to consultation with the European Central Works Council and relevant countries' employee representative bodies where required, says the company.

The move is expected mainly to affect Goodyear Dunlop Tires France's Amiens North plant which accounts for nearly 60 percent of Goodyear's EMEA farm tire production and employs 1,173 workers.

GDT France also presented to the French Central Works Council a plan to close Amiens North.

France24 reported Henry Dumortier, chairman of Goodyear's French unit, as saying at a press conference on 30 January: "We are fully aware of the impact of the announcement we are making today and the plan's heavy consequences for staff, their families and local communities."

"We are deeply disappointed that five years of negotiations were not enough to reach a compromise with representatives of workers at Amiens Nord. Today's announcement was the only option left to us."

Tyre production at the plant led to an aggregate loss in 2011 of 61 million euros ($83 million) according to Goodyear figures, says France24.