Bridgestone halted production due to falling exports

The company Bridgestone Argentina submitted to the Ministry of Labor a Preventive Crisis Procedure (PPC) due to the drop in exports and the slump in the domestic market. For this reason, the multinational has stopped tyre production since Monday.

“Following the extensive labor conflict in 2022, we suffered a loss of corporate confidence that led to the transfer of export volume from Argentina to plants in the region. As a result, today we are exporting 10% of what we projected,” the company said.

As for the union conflict mentioned by the multinational, it was a strike carried out by SUTNA, the sector’s union that stopped the plants of the three companies that produce in the country (the other being Pirelli) for almost five months. This union is aligned with the Workers’ Party.

Since then, companies have entered a crisis situation due to the economic impact which generated the extensive force measure.

“In this context, Bridgestone Argentina submitted a Preventive Crisis Procedure to the National Secretariat of Labor and Human Capital, communicating the objective of reducing production to focus operations on the local market,” the company added.

It also clarifies that this reorganization “reverses the expansion carried out in 2021, when Bridgestone Argentina hired staff to increase productivity and meet the export needs of Latin America and the United States.”

Exports represent a third of the company’s business. Another third corresponds to tire sales to automotive manufacturers and the other to the replacement market. It only imports 7% of the total products it sells to supply market niches such as trucks.

A stage of negotiation is now beginning, within the PPC regime, between the company, the Government and the union to define the employment situation of the employees.

Bridgestone has a plant in the Buenos Aires town of Lavallol and has around 1,500 direct employees.