Plans by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. to shutter its Union City plant, idling 1,900 workers, has struck a severe blow to rural northwestern Tennessee and western Kentucky.
The Akron, Ohio-based company announced the plan Thursday as part of its quarterly earnings report, saying it would shut down production at the site at the end of 2011.
The plant, among the region's largest employers, had been left unprotected in the latest labor contract but Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire said the announcement was still unexpected.
"We didn't know it was going to be this drastic," McGuire, himself a Goodyear plant retiree, said by telephone.
He said employees were told that production will continue until late this year.
"What is really sad is so many people who live in this area are going to be out of work," McGuire said. "There are no jobs here. They are going to have to move."