Japan’s Yokohama Tire has announced that it has laid off 31 staff at its Salem plant in the US.
The Salem plant produces passenger and light truck tyres.
The positions are being phased out to more effectively streamline the current production schedule and inventory capacity, according to Tetsuro Murakama, president of Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia.
The laid off staff are hourly employees. They are represented by the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1023 and had been working at the plant for less than 14 months.
The company employs a total of 910 people at its Salem facility.