Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. laid off 41 Akron-based employees last week, part of a continued restructuring that will cut more than 3,000 jobs across the company in the coming years.
The announcement comes on top of an earlier notice that Goodyear, which is based in Akron, plans in early 2025 to move 175 local jobs to Costa Rica and lay off employees here.
Goodyear has about 2,600 Akron employees and 71,000 worldwide, said Doug Grassian, a Goodyear spokesperson. Those who lost their jobs will receive severance pay and outplacement assistance.
Last week’s job cuts total 82 employees in the company’s corporate functions, Global Operations & Technology and Americas businesses, Grassian said. He would not provide additional details about the eliminated jobs, but said the other 41 are spread across the United States, including remote workers and plant employees.
The cuts are part of the Goodyear Forward plan, which the company has said is needed to create a more cost-efficient organizational structure, improve profitability and position itself for long-term success. In Goodyear’s last earnings report, executives said the plan had contributed $90 million to its bottom line.
It was a large piece of Goodyear’s profitability; the company made $80 million in the second quarter.
The Goodyear Forward plan also includes a 15% reduction in overtime hours and the sale of property, CEO Mark Stewart said in an Aug. 1 earnings call. Stewart said moving quickly to recognize savings through the plan is “critical.”
“We are clearly progressing on our goals as part of the Goodyear Forward plan,” he said. “We’re already making good progress and continue to execute to achieve our goals.”
Grassian said previously that about 3,050 job cuts were expected in the coming years, though he did not say how many would be in Akron.
Prior to the latest round of layoffs, Goodyear had already cut 50 of the approximately 750 employees whose job losses were announced earlier this year. The company also laid off about 900 employees this year in job reduction plans that were announced in previous years.