Cooper Tire to close plant in Albany, Ga.
An Ohio plant is among those spared by the tire maker.
TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — With tax incentives and worker concessions, four cities in four states vied to keep their Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. plant open after the Ohio-based company said the weakening economy would cause it to shutter one of its U.S. plants.
Albany, Ga., lost out and 1,400 employees will be out of work, the company announced Wednesday. Meanwhile, workers in Texarkana, Ark.; Tupelo, Miss.; and Findlay, Ohio; were relieved.
“Thank God that it’s all over, and hopefully this industry will pick up and we can go forward,” said David Boone, president of the Texarkana plant’s Steelworkers Local 752L.
“We’re happy, but we’re sad at the same time. We hate to see anybody lose their jobs,” Boone said.
In Texarkana, the union voted to scuttle its current contract in favor of one in which workers would freeze salaries and make other concessions. Texarkana has 1,400 workers, Findlay has 1,100 and Tupelo has 1,200. The Texarkana and Findlay plants are unionized; the Tupelo and Albany plants are not.
Alison Tyrer, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said state and local officials in Georgia offered an incentive package for Cooper Tire totaling about $32 million. The package included tax credits, low-interest loans, tax abatements and quick start services, she said.
Mississippi offered $30 million to keep the Tupelo plant open, while a spokesman for Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said Cooper Tire would received $2 million from the governor’s quick action closing fund — money that’s set aside to attract and retain businesses.
Ohio also offered incentives to keep the Findlay plant open.
“At a time when the economy is punctuated by bad news, I am very pleased with the good news that Cooper Tires had made the decision to keep its Tupelo plant open,” Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said.
Workers were told in October that the company was facing higher costs and shrinking demand, and that Cooper had to make a dramatic cut. The company studied the plants while workers and their communities hoped Cooper would spare them.
Cooper said in a news release Wednesday that it would absorb $150 million to $175 million in restructuring charges, and 50 percent to 60 percent would be noncash charges. The company said it would save between $75 million and $80 million each year after the closing.
Cooper said some of the savings would be realized in 2009 as production moves to the three remaining plants.
Cooper Chief Executive Officer Roy Armes said the company has been hurt by lower-priced imports and by softening U.S. demand.
The company told workers Wednesday that the three remaining plants would move to around-the-clock production, seven days a week, and that staff may be added. The company said it would take 12 months to close the Albany factory.
Workers at the Findlay plant overwhelmingly approved a contract last week that will cut their pay and benefits by $30 million over the next three years.
The move likely saved their jobs, said Rod Nelson, president of United Steelworkers Local 207L.
“We feel lucky, but our hearts really go out to the community and the families down there in Albany,” he said. “There’s nobody celebrating here.”
The Findlay plant is Cooper’s oldest. It’s also one of the largest employers in the northwest Ohio city.
Union workers at Texarkana on Saturday voted 84 percent to 16 percent to adopt their new contract.