AKRON (Dec. 12, 2000)—In a cost reduction move, Goodyear is offering an early retirement incentive package to between 650 and 700 white collar employees—about 8.5 percent of the company´s 8,200 white collar workforce in North America.
"We want to align our costs with revenue," a Goodyear spokesman said. No details of the offer were provided, but he said the package contained attractive "enhanced pension" benefits.
Nearly half of the workers to be offered the incentive are located in the Akron area, but no specific departments have been targeted for the reduction. Nearly every department submitted names of people eligible for the program, the spokesman said.
The retirements will occur over the next several weeks.
"Everybody knows these are difficult times for the tire industry and we have to cut costs accordingly," the spokesman said.
Goodyear´s move to reduce personnel costs is in line with other tire companies which have also recently announced reductions in employment.
In October, Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. announced it would trim about 4.3 percent of its workforce, roughly 1,100 employees. Also Bridgestone Firestone Inc. has trimmed 450 workers at its Decatur, Ill., plant in the wake of slumping sales.