Cooper Tire Plant closing in Albany

More than 2-thousand full and part time workers in Albany are losing their jobs at the Cooper Tire plant.
The news came in a phone call. Cooper Tire CEO Roy Armes called Governor Sonny Perdue, then notified Albany officials. The plant was selected from four U.S. based Cooper plants to shut down.
The decision came following a two month study that looked at each facility. During that time residents hung 1-thousand blue and white bows to show their appreciation for one of the areas largest employers. Barbara Holmes is with the Albany-Dougherty County Economic Development Commission.

"The most important thing is not just that we're losing these jobs, but these are families that will be affected."

Holmes says the economic impact to southwest Georgia is around 500-million dollars. Cooper blames the closure on higher costs and shrinking demand in the automobile business.

Albany tire plant closing down

Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. says it will close its plant in Albany, Ga., the result of a capacity study of its four plants.

The Findlay, Ohio-based company will keep open plants in Findlay; Texarkana, Ark.; and Tupelo, Miss. The company announced the decision in a conference call Wednesday.

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 embarked on a study of each of its plants while the factories and their communities worked to provide Cooper with reasons to keep operating.

In Findlay, union workers voted to accept a pay cut. In Texarkana, the union voted to scuttle its current contract in favor of one in which workers would freeze salaries.

(AP)

GA colleges helping Albany tire co. workers

Several schools in the Technical College System of Georgia are offering to waive application fees for the some 1,300 employees at Albany's Cooper Tire plant, set to close this year.

Officials estimate that, including secondary suppliers, the closure will affect an estimated 5,000 jobs in south Georgia.

South Georgia Technical College in Americus is offering free enrollment for their winter quarter, commencing Jan. 7 to workers who want to learn new professions and trades, in the wake of the shutdown.

Financial aid and scholarships are available, according to the Cordele Dispatch.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the plant closure.

Procter and Gamble Job Losses in Albany

Proctor and Gamble is asking 300 employees in Southwest Georgia to retire early from their paper products plant in Albany.
This is the second major economic setback in Albany this year. Back in March, Cooper Tire announced it was shutting down its plant there. By the end of the year, 14-hundred people will have lost their jobs.
Now one of the city's other largest employers, Proctor and Gamble, says it's cutting 300 employees through what the company is calling, "voluntary separations."
Employees will be offered a severance package according to Vince Falcione with Proctor and Gamble.

"It will include severance pay. It will include an extension of employee benefits. It will also include career counseling and assistance."

The Georgia Department of Labor stresses that voluntary separations are different from layoffs, and because of that unemployment benefits are determined on a case-by-case basis.

Albany: applicants swamp job fair

Turnout at an Albany job fair for a Marine Corps contractor on Friday was so great that the contractor, AECOM, says they canceled about 200 interviews that were scheduled for Sunday.

“AECOM has told us that they have so many applications, they will not be honoring those interviews,” Kari Finley, media and events manager for Goodwill Industries of the Southern Rivers and the fair’s host told the Albany Herald newspaper.

More than 1,500 registered for 125 positions, according to the report. The contractor interviewed some 450 applicants.

The more than 10 to one rush for spots comes in the wake of the announcement by the city's Cooper Tire plant that it was shuttering its doors in '09, a move that will put more than 2,000 people out of work.

Georgia unemployment is at a 25-year high.

Click here for more GPB News reports about unemployment.

Georgia unemployment highest in 25 years

Georgia’s unemployment rate has hit a 25-year high, as job losses accelerate their spread across the state.

The current mark of 7.5 percent is a spike of six-tenths of a point from October. And it’s three FULL percentage points higher than from November of last year.

State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says the losses are everywhere: from manufacturing, to construction, to the retail industry. His fears of the Cooper Tire plant shutdown in Albany were confirmed in the announcement this week--gone from southwest Georgia are another 15-hundred jobs.

Thurmond says a select few industries are weathering the economic storm:

"There are some opportunities within the healthcare industry, federal government and education. Beyond those, job losses continue to mount."

Thurmond says the state’s 53 Career Centers are being flooded with out-of-work Georgians. The centers are open 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. For a complete list, go to the Department of Labor website: dol.state.ga.us