Analysis and discussion of issues that impact business

The manufacturing sector takes another hit.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said on Monday that it plans to close a plant in Tyler, Texas, three weeks after workers at the plant and 15 others went on strike in part because of the tire maker’s plan to shut down the factory.

This seems a bit like a vicious circle.

The global economy is having an effect.

The Tyler plant mostly makes small passenger tires, a segment that has been under considerable pressure from low cost imports.

The union has made it's feelings very public.

More than 12,000 United Steelworkers members in Tyler and elsewhere in North America went on strike Oct. 5 after months of talks with the world’s third biggest tire maker. No new talks have been scheduled.

Attempts to try to make this work have failed.

The United Steelworkers, which represents Goodyear workers, said the announcement to close the Tyler plant was a slap in the face, particularly because the union took pay cuts, job losses and other concessions in 2000 to help get the company back on track financially.

Even incentives haven't worked.

Officials in Tyler, a city of about 84,000 people 100 miles east of Dallas, have been afraid of losing one of the area’s largest employers. The city recently presented Goodyear with a $12 million incentive plan to keep the plant running.

Accusations are flying.

“Now they seem committed to stripping away health care benefits from those who made the turnaround possible and to further close plants and abandon the business,” said Tom Conway, USW vice president and chairman of the Goodyear negotiating team. “Their foolishness is outweighed only by their greed.”

So, I'm wondering, should the company be "forced" to stay in business by the union?

Goodyear has said the union refused to agree to help it remain competitive in a global economy. The union said the company’s last proposal would have included two plant closings — the union says the other is in Gadsden, Ala. — and other concessions.

Sometimes bad things happen in business. What then is a business to do? And who should make the rules? Should companies have the freedom to make bad decisions, or should someone outside the business step in?

How would you feel?