ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996 TAG: 9610180045
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
Yokohama Tire Corp. has asked employees at its Salem plant for advice and cooperation to get through a difficult period that raises "survival" issues for the plant, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.
"Our goal is to increase our competitiveness. We're looking for their input," Kelly Teenor said.
Supervisors began briefing employees Wednesday, during staff meetings that are routinely held in the plant. Those meetings continue into Saturday, by which time all employees are scheduled to be briefed.
"They want us to sit down with them and discuss and look at different ways for this plant to run more efficiently," said Eddie Robtison, president of Local 1023 of the United Steelworkers, the production employees' union. The union has a contract with the company good through July 1997.
Before recent layoffs, Yokohama was the Roanoke Valley's 12th largest employer. The plant, which produces tires for passenger cars and light trucks, will have 925 employees after it completes planned layoffs of 125 employees. The layoffs have not all taken effect but will before the end of the year.
Issues on the table are "our financial situation and the issue of survival," Teenor said. Labor is being consulted "with the goal of exploring ways to make the changes we need to ensure the success of the operation."
The tire industry is swamped with an oversupply of finished tires. Yokohama's cutbacks, which have included 15 days of shutdowns, are designed to trim that plant's production until the excess tires work their way out of the distribution pipeline, the company said. Tire sales are flat, Teenor said.
In addition, Yokohama said earlier that the Salem plant faces another problem: the loss of a major customer, PriceCostco. The Issaquah, Wash., operator of 264 warehouse-style general merchandise stores said it will reduce its tire purchases during the next two years.
The plant's survival has become an issue only "as of late" because of business conditions, Teenor said. Company officials are not saying the plant is going to close or even that it may close, Teenor said.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB