Tyre company Goodyear is to close its only UK manufacturing plant, bringing to an end nearly 90 years of history in Wolverhampton.
Plans were first announced in June and all 330 workers at the Wolverhampton site were expected to lose their jobs.
The first redundancies take place on 31 December and closure would take place on a phased basis, the firm said.
The Unite union said the news over these likely redundancies this year had come “somewhat as a shock”.
Production at the plant is anticipated to end no earlier than January 2017, the firm said.
At its height, the factory employed 7000 workers.
Regional secretary of Unite in the West Midlands Gerard Coyne said its members would be “bitterly disappointed” by the announcement, after an announcement was put on a notice board.
Coyne said the union would take its case to chief executive Richard Kramer in the US. “We certainly are going to be writing to him to point out a number of the pitfalls in the analysis that has been undertaken in terms of why the site should close and if needs be, we will take our case to America.
“A delegation will go out and meet with the management if that facility is offered.”
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