Gadsden Goodyear Plant Now Down 845 Employees

Tire manufacturing in Alabama has suffered another blow. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company plant in Gadsden, Alabama, has cut its workforce by two-thirds in just two months. After 740 employees took voluntary buyouts in late December, the plant laid off 105 workers last week. According to a United Steelworkers representative, the plant now has 411 remaining employees. The manufacturing facility was previously a major employer in east Alabama. The downsizing is reportedly the result of a declining tire manufacturing market. The plant has been in Gadsden since 1929, and began a $30.1 million expansion in 2015, when it employed 1,500 people.