Goodyear layoffs have begun

More than 400 workers lost their jobs at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Danville plant effective Monday, per the company’s agreement with United Steelworkers Local 831, but not everyone has left, a company spokesperson said.

“Buyouts are complete and all 200 were taken,” Goodyear Communications Director Jo Andrews said Tuesday, confirming that the rest of the jobs were lost through layoffs.

“But because we still have to run the business and have so many experts that know so much about this complicated machinery, we are going to have staggered departures.”

Since the plant is in partial shutdown this week, Andrews said it was not possible to say when all those who have lost their jobs would be leaving.

“The majority have already gone, but there will be spotty departures, and I just don’t know when those will be,” she said.

The medium-radial production department is idled this week and the staff, maintenance and radial and bias airplane tire department are working.

Andrews said Goodyear has put together a group of resources to help those affected by the lay-offs.

“The Virginia Employment Commission locally is offering resources, such as explaining how unemployment benefits and the supplemental unemployment benefits work,” she said.

The agreement reached between Goodyear and United Steelworkers Local 831 in February in-cluded a “Danville only” supplemental fund for laid-off production, as well as a realignment of the truck side of the plant to three, eight-hour shifts, five days a week. Before, the plant operated seven days a week, 24 hours per day, on 12-hour shifts.

As previously reported, laid-off employees will be eligible to receive $100 per week for up to two years, or until the fund runs out.

The employee assistance program also is available if the laid-off employees need to talk to a counselor, Andrews said.

“We have brought all our resources, such as counselors and financial people, to bear to help those affected,” she said. “As you receive notification that you have been impacted by the agree-ment and the eight-hour schedule, you are then given a time to attend a meeting where all re-sources are available.”

The buyout package offered $2,000 per year, up to $40,000, to employees between the ages of 53 and 55 with at least 28 years of service at the plant.

Salaried employees were not eligible for buyouts, but salaried positions will be cut and those employees are eligible for the Supplemental Compensation Benefit Plan, company officials said in February.

More than 2,400 people work at the Goodyear plant, and it is Danville’s largest employer.