Molly
01-10-2007, 11:07 PM
Workers at the Goodyear tire factory in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que., say they have a plan to keep the plant open, despite the company's announcement a week ago that it will be shut down.
The plant could be lucrative if it's transformed to produce higher-demand products, union representatives said Tuesday. Workers want Goodyear to invest in new equipment and produce 17- to 19-inch specialized tires that are a hot commodity in the automobile sector.
The plan could preserve many of the 1,000 jobs expected to disappear when Goodyear winds down production at the factory later this year.
Workers have yet to meet with Goodyear to discuss the plan, but that encounter is in the works, said Joseph Gargison, Quebec vice-president of the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers' Union of Canada, which represents some of the laid-off employees.
The plan will also need government support to become a reality, Gargison said. "We need the help of government programs, whether it's federal or provincial, to try to improve that deal."
The union's plan would create more jobs than Goodyear's designs for the factory, which would transform it into a materials mixing centre with about 200 workers.
The union's plan was endorsed by Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who travelled to Valleyfield to meet with workers Tuesday.
He compared the Valleyfield workers' plight to that of employees at the Ste. Therese Paccar truck factory, where 900 jobs were eliminated in the 1990s. The plant was refurbished and relaunched, creating new jobs, after the provincial and federal governments invested $50 million.
Governments only have to invest short-term, Duceppe said, pointing out that the Paccar factory paid back the loans within four years of relaunching production in 1999. "It's a full success," he said.
Duceppe is asking federal Industry Minister Maxime Bernier to intervene in the Goodyear closures, while workers wait to meet with company representatives.
CBC News
The plant could be lucrative if it's transformed to produce higher-demand products, union representatives said Tuesday. Workers want Goodyear to invest in new equipment and produce 17- to 19-inch specialized tires that are a hot commodity in the automobile sector.
The plan could preserve many of the 1,000 jobs expected to disappear when Goodyear winds down production at the factory later this year.
Workers have yet to meet with Goodyear to discuss the plan, but that encounter is in the works, said Joseph Gargison, Quebec vice-president of the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers' Union of Canada, which represents some of the laid-off employees.
The plan will also need government support to become a reality, Gargison said. "We need the help of government programs, whether it's federal or provincial, to try to improve that deal."
The union's plan would create more jobs than Goodyear's designs for the factory, which would transform it into a materials mixing centre with about 200 workers.
The union's plan was endorsed by Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who travelled to Valleyfield to meet with workers Tuesday.
He compared the Valleyfield workers' plight to that of employees at the Ste. Therese Paccar truck factory, where 900 jobs were eliminated in the 1990s. The plant was refurbished and relaunched, creating new jobs, after the provincial and federal governments invested $50 million.
Governments only have to invest short-term, Duceppe said, pointing out that the Paccar factory paid back the loans within four years of relaunching production in 1999. "It's a full success," he said.
Duceppe is asking federal Industry Minister Maxime Bernier to intervene in the Goodyear closures, while workers wait to meet with company representatives.
CBC News