You buy tire Walmart, stupid yankee...While waiting for tire, you get some China yum yum....you belly fat, you go now yankee.
Posted on 02/13/2011 1:00:55 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
Goodyear's plant manager placed its bad-news call to City Hall at 7:58 a.m. Thursday: The Union City plant where 1,900 employees make radial tires will close by year's end.
"We were just all surprised, I guess," City Clerk Carolyn Moran said, adding most everyone in this border town of 10,200 knows someone who works at the plant four miles north of City Hall.
Union City sits at the Kentucky line, 115 miles northeast of Memphis. The area unemployment rate is 9.9 percent.
Goodyear's fourth-quarter earnings report, released Thursday, disclosed the Akron, Ohio-based company will take a one-time $160 million charge related to the plant closing.
Goodyear Chairman and CEO Richard Kramer said in the release: "While we are committed to manufacturing in North America, all of our plants must be cost-competitive and be able to demonstrate sustainable, world-class productivity."
"That is not the case with this plant, and as a result, the market has moved beyond what the factory is able to build."
The news confirmed the fears of many in the region.
"I guess it's a surprise that it happened as soon as it happened, but we all had known because of its unprotected status that something like this could happen," Mayor Terry Hailey said.
He referred to the last contract agreement between Goodyear and the United Steelworkers, which didn't protect the plant from shutting down.
"Obviously, it's a severe blow to the community," said Hailey, a local radio station manager who's been part-time mayor the past 22 years.
The effects of the closing will radiate beyond Union City and Obion County; workers commuted from the entire region, Hailey said.
In Nashville, state Rep. Bill Sanderson of nearby Kenton rose on the House floor to express his disappointment, pointing out that the closing imperiled not only jobs at the factory, but also at businesses that depended on Goodyear's operations. "Hundreds of millions of dollars" would be lost in the region because of the closing, the Republican said.
Gov. Bill Haslam said the Goodyear closure is a "huge hit" for an area already plagued by high unemployment.
"I don't know yet what we can do but I can promise you we're going to focus a lot of attention there," Haslam said after a luncheon speech Thursday.
"We obviously haven't had time to put a strategy in place there but we understand how serious that is for the area and we will work hard at trying to alleviate that," the governor said.
A United Steelworkers Local 878L official declined to comment until all its members had been informed of Goodyear's announcement.
But the local posted a message on its website Thursday:
"This morning Plant Management called the Union Negotiating Committee to the plant and announced intentions for plant shutdown. "They will be announcing this to the members today. Plans are to run at the current production levels until towards the end of the year. There are no plans for a ramp down in production levels."
The plant opened in 1968, Hailey said.
Union City still has other substantial employers, including a Kohler plumbing fixtures plant, Tyson Foods, a Lennox Hearth Products plant, and Williams Sausages.
"Hopefully, we can attract somebody else as soon as we can," Hailey said. "We certainly will have an available workforce.
If we get any more of nobama’s “recovery summer” there could be problems. Hate yourself...vote DIMocRAT!
“Hopefully, we can attract somebody else as soon as we can,” Hailey said. “We certainly will have an available workforce.
Maybe Zero can fill it with a subsidized solar or windmill plant.
You buy tire Walmart, stupid yankee...While waiting for tire, you get some China yum yum....you belly fat, you go now yankee.
My cousin worked there, but is long since retired. Just in time, I guess.
You seem to be a business illiterate, likely a liberal or perhaps closet progressive. Busiesses are founded to make money and do not exist to provide jobs.
Unions have degenerated into corrupt political entities that collect dues to promote a political agenda. They are a shield for those lacking the courage to take risks.
Harping on American products is sort of a joke. American love foreign made goods and by an overwhelming margin prefer them to expensive American manufactured products.
Congress and all presidents following after Reagan have been on the send USA jobs overseas bandwagon. That includes Clinton, Obama, and Da Bush's as well. None of them not a one was looking out for our nation the past 20 years but rather securing the gains for their political friends and donors. Corporations have had their owned people in DC but we've been shorted.
That said unions need to become realistic and workers be content with an honest wage not an unrealistic one companies can no longer meet. Union Members do you need more money? Do like us peasants have done for decades. Either work offered overtime or get a second job.
Corporate lies and free trade bull sh*t, which really mean:
We want people to work like Communist Chinese peasants, who will work hard for 14 cents per day....
I’m glad we are in a recovery. These people will easily find green jobs. Obama told me so.
RIGHT TO WORK must be the law nationwide! It's the first necessary step toward ending the death grip of unions on business and innovation. Unions are job killers.
Of course my stance on right to work may offend those (even a vocal minority here on FR) enraptured by the sainted Martin Marxist Luther King:
In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining. We demand this fraud be stopped." — Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King and Jimmy Hoffa -- not a dimes worth of difference -- both were total frauds and shills for union thugocracy.
“Congress and the WH needs to start providing incentives to add jobs in America.”
The answer is to go back to the tariff levels in existence prior to the infatuation with “free trade”. Look at history. The United States built its industrial base during the 35 year period from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the 20th century. During that time the federal government was funded nearly 100% from the tariff. The tariff had the dual advantage of protecting emerging US industry from European imports and funding government.
The free traders will scream but a 25% duty on all imports would be the best thing we could do for this country. No other nation practices free trade the way we do. China manipulates its currency and subsidizes both exports and the development of strategic industries while engaging in intellectual property piracy and exploiting workers. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. We are in an economic war. We should be fighting back with high tariffs.
This is like saying that OJ didn't protect Nicole.
You American love foreign made good...stupid fat yankee... cost less than you bad goods...You shop Walmart, you like better...We sell cheap tire, you buy with couple dollar, you go go on tire...You have *goodyear*...Hahah
That's absolutely right. A business has a fiduciary responsibility to its stockholders. It doesn't exist to create jobs or boost the morale of a community. Those are merely side-effects of making profits.
Unions have degenerated into corrupt political entities that collect dues to promote a political agenda.
I invest in a number of businesses and any company that caves into union demands inevitably hurts me and other stockholders financially.
RIGHT TO WORK laws are the first step. Ending affirmative action (a drain on productivity since the best and brightest are passed over) is another necessary step. And of course there are the profit-killing regulations that must be abolished to restore the American economy.
We do import some tires. I think most are made here, at least the good ones.
When shipped, tires are mostly air and shipping is very expensive.
My thought would be that the Union City plant was not competitive with other American plants
Baraq imposed a 35% tariff on tires from China in Sept 09 as requested by the United Steelworkers Union.
If you’ve priced tires lately, it definitely had an effect on all tire prices.
A local call center recently moved to India. Company said it was because office rent, related costs and taxes were too high. All of these people would have loved to have kept their jobs and could have done so by working at home with a phone and a computer and several I know would have taken a slight pay cut to be able to do so. Taxes are another matter. Perhaps coupling some worthwhile incentives to stay plus forfeiture of ability to sell their product or service if not based in the U.S. would cause some to reconsider.
Who wants to invest their money in this country? It's too expensive and too big of a gamble.
———profit-killing regulations-——
We lost the entire furniture industry and all the jobs simply because the EPA declared the volatiles in the finishes pollute and must be replaced with water based coatings
American would not have it. The products looked bad and cheap.
The industry packed up and moved. It had no choice. Their products became inferior through no fault of the company
If it were a different time and place, EPA bodies would be stacked like cordwood
The local paper did a story about a guy setting up a donut bakery here in an older building. No retail sales, this is just going to make product to deliver to retail outlets.
The company is him and two twentysomething able bodied guys.
The first thing he had to do was build OHSA approved handicap accessible mens and womens bathrooms.
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