One of the largest workplaces in northwest Tennessee is shutting its doors. Officials with Goodyear Tire and Rubber today announced plans to close the company’s plant in Union City. Nearly 2-thousand people work there.
The factory makes high performance car and truck tires. State Rep. Bill Sanderson says he toured the plant recently with two other newly elected lawmakers.
“It’s a humongous, gigantic plant. At one time it actually employed almost three thousand people, and so… they’ve downsized it over the past ten years or so…but still, it’s still a magnificent facility.”
Sanderson says the closure could start a domino effect of job loss at smaller companies with contracts at the factory. He estimates as many as 35-hundred workers could be affected when all is said and done.
The closure comes two years after Goodyear rival Bridgestone cut about half the employees at its tire factory in LaVergne in a series of layoffs.
Joe White also contributed to this report
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