Tire manufacturer Bridgestone Americas is closing its LaVergne, Tennessee, truck and bus radial tire plant and laying off 700 workers there, the company announced in a news release.
Bridgestone said the closure will help the company “optimize its business footprint” and “strengthen its competitiveness.”
Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr said the closure, effective July 31, would affect his community in many ways.
“Rutherford County remains a great place to live, work, and do business,” Carr said. “As these citizens struggle to find work by the summer, I have full faith the community can come together to help our fellow citizens find job opportunities.”
In addition, Bridgestone announced capacity and workforce reductions at its Des Moines, Iowa, agriculture tire plant and additional workforce reductions in U.S. corporate, sales and operations. In Latin America, it plans reductions in workforce and production capacity in Argentina and Brazil.
The company cited a “challenging economic environment.”
“Of our nearly 44,000 teammates across North America and Latin America, just under 4% of our teammates are leaving the company as part of the voluntary and involuntary workforce reductions,” company spokesperson Emily Weaver said in an email.
The LaVergne plant was the first tire-producing facility in North America for the Bridgestone Corporation. The company stopped making tires for cars and light trucks at the plant in 2009, laying off roughly half of the workers at the time.
LaVergne’s United Steelworkers master union workers have preferential hiring rights at the company’s plants in Des Moines; Akron, Ohio; and Russellville, Arkansas, Weaver said.
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