Workers at BFNT plant reject production incentive plan

Aug. 31, 2007

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC says union workers at its LaVergne, Tenn., plant have voted to reject a production incentive plan that would have paid them up to 20% more for increased tire production.

A BFNT spokesman recently told moderntiredealer.com that if workers had voted for the program, BFNT would have granted protected plant status to the facility for two years, plus a capital infusion of $33 million.

"We wanted to increase efficiency at the plant and make it globally competitive," said the spokesman. "In order to make that plant globally competitive it’s imperative that we increase productivity. They shot it down overwhelmingly."

The factory can produce 13,600 passenger and 6,200 medium truck tires per day at full throttle, according to Modern Tire Dealer research.

The union's rejection of BFNT's production incentive plan "doesn’t mean that new capital won’t go into LaVergne. Capital decisions are made on an on-going basis.”