Goodyear to shut down Nelson Mandela Bay manufacturing plant — 900 jobs at risk

The jobs of 900 workers are at risk and thousands of jobs from secondary industries are being threatened as Goodyear announced this week that it was closing its factory in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The factory, in Kariega (formerly Uitenhage), was opened in 1947. About 900 employees will lose their jobs, but fears are that this will have a larger secondary impact as other industries, such as catering, security and corporate social investment projects will be affected by the decision.

Company representatives would not answer questions on Thursday, but issued a general statement confirming that it was shutting down its manufacturing arm in South Africa. 

“Goodyear is transforming its go-to-market strategy in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region to optimise its footprint and portfolio.

“As part of that transformation, Goodyear South Africa is launching a restructuring process in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Relations Act to address proposals regarding the closure of its manufacturing facility in South Africa and the realignment of certain sales, administration and general management functions. Goodyear South Africa will continue to maintain a sales and distribution, and Hi-Q retail presence in South Africa,” the statement read.

“This proposal is in no way a reflection of the commendable efforts or the years of dedication of our South Africa team, for which we are grateful,” the statement added.

The process will be facilitated by the CCMA.

“As a company, we recognise our responsibilities towards our employees and their families and are firmly committed to acting fairly and providing them with appropriate support,” the company’s statement continued.

National Metal Workers Union representative Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the union had not yet received a Section 189 notice from Goodyear.

CEO of Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Denise van Huyssteen said the chamber would assist workers through its job loss mitigation initiative. The initiative connects companies seeking artisans with those whose jobs had been made redundant. Previously, the chamber helped redirect employees of specialist tyre manufacturer, Continental Conti-tech when it closed its plant in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Read more: New import tariffs — pushing up tyre prices or saving local jobs?

Van Huyssteen said the chamber was saddened to receive the news of the Goodyear retrenchments at the Kariega factory.

“This comes just months after Conti-tech announced that it was closing its plant, and the Bridgestone plant closure of over four years ago.

“This highlights the massive pressure which tyre manufacturers are under due to enabling environment issues such as the logistics challenges; lack of service delivery at a municipal level; inadequate maintenance of electricity, water and sanitation infrastructure; increased costs relating to safety and security; above-inflation input costs for essential services such as electricity; as well as cheap tyre imports which are flooding the market,” she said. 

Read more: Trade body hikes costs of importing cheap tyres in lifeline for regional industry

Nduduzo Chala from the South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference said that while he wanted to allow Goodyear to go through the process it had begun, he could say that trading conditions for local manufacturers had been very difficult over the past few years.

The conference represents the four big tyre manufacturers in South Africa — Bridgestone, Dunlop, Goodyear and Continental.

“The market has been plagued with an unfair trade environment. It is a question of producers vs importers, and low-cost products have been introduced into the market,” he said. 

He said they had persuaded the government, even though it took more than a year, to introduce anti-dumping duties on China recently.

“It was a very unfair trading environment,” he said. “But there are always loopholes, and the Chinese companies are now shifting operations to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We then had to do the same for these countries,” he said.

“However, the sustainability of manufacturing has become challenging,” Chala said. DM