The head of Nashville-based Bridgestone Americas works his last day on the job Friday. CEO Mark Emkes has spent 33 years with the tire manufacturer and says he’s had to make the most difficult decisions of his career over the last two years.
Bridgestone shut down its consumer tire division in La Vergne last year. Roughly 700 employees lost their jobs. The production of commercial tires remains there.
Bridgestone has denied that it targets unionized plants for cuts, instead saying the company is forced to trim “high-cost” plants. But Emkes says high costs and unions tend to go hand-in-hand. He says most of Bridgestone’s union shops cost more to run, not because of higher wages, but because of strict work rules.
“In other words if I’m sick and I know how to run this machine but Bob and Tom also know how to run this machine but the work rules don’t allow them to work my machine, then how can we be productive? The work rules, because they’re not flexible, can influence, do influence a higher cost.”
Emkes says not all union plants are so strict. As an example, he points to Bridgestone’s Warren County operation, which has not seen layoffs.
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