Laid off from Bridgestone.

What Bridgestone layoffs have meant for employees

Bridgestone's recent layoff notices carry the name of the unit that employed the workers. Tennessee's notice for LaVergne came from Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, Georgia's for the Covington ball plant from Bridgestone Golf, and North Carolina's from Firestone Fibers and Textiles, which the Rock Hill Herald reported its WARN letter places under Bridgestone Americas. If you're looking for a notice tied to your plant, names worth searching in our WARN tracker include Firestone Fibers and Textiles, Bridgestone Golf and plain Firestone, along with Bridgestone itself. North Carolina's benefit rules are at North Carolina unemployment benefits, and Georgia's at Georgia unemployment benefits.

Des Moines, LaVergne and the Bloomington-Normal off-road plant were three of six Bridgestone locations under one Steelworkers master contract, ratified in 2022 for four years, according to the USW officers' report. Bridgestone offered buyouts at two of them. Des Moines held furloughs and layoffs back as the fallback if too few volunteered, according to Iowa Public Radio, and Normal's cut ended with buyouts and no layoffs, the president of Steelworkers Local 787 told WGLT. The Normal buyout was one lump sum for everyone, and he said he was surprised it took no account of how long people had worked at Bridgestone; the takers split roughly 60/40 between less senior workers and those nearing retirement. If you're covered by a union contract and weighing a buyout, you can ask your local whether the contract provides anything if you stay and are laid off later, so you're comparing two real choices. Firestone Fibers' Kings Mountain union is a different Steelworkers local, 1133L, which isn't one of the master contract's six. Iowa's and Illinois' benefit rules are at Iowa unemployment benefits and Illinois unemployment benefits.

The date on a Bridgestone closing hasn't always been the last day of work. LaVergne stopped running weeks before the closing date the company had announced, even though the union said Bridgestone had assured it in a letter of enough work until then, WSMV reported. The company's own letter to workers said they would keep their pay and benefits through the original date. Georgia's WARN record for the Covington plant lists two expected separation dates months apart, and Firestone Fibers' North Carolina notice scheduled its cuts across two dates as well. If your plant's closing is announced, you can ask which date your pay, your benefits and any severance are tied to, because the day work stops and the day pay stops haven't always matched. Tennessee's benefit rules are at Tennessee unemployment benefits.

At LaVergne, salaried and union workers heard about severance on different schedules. Bridgestone said salaried employees had been told their severance estimates while the union's terms waited on bargaining with the Steelworkers that had begun in February, according to WSMV. At Covington, where Georgia's record lists no union-represented workers among those affected, Bridgestone Golf's May 1 release said it would work with local partners to provide access to employment resources. The January 23 announcement that set LaVergne's closing also named workforce cuts in Bridgestone's US corporate, sales and operations. If you're salaried and handed a severance estimate, you can ask what it's based on and whether it changes if your last day moves.

Help has also come from outside the company. Normal's buyout takers had presentations from the state's rapid response group, among them the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the US Labor Department and Career Link, and the local's president credited them with help on retraining, insurance and COBRA, the same WGLT report said. If your health coverage is ending with your job, there's more on how COBRA works, and if you're weighing a severance offer, the questions worth raising are laid out at negotiating a severance agreement.

A sourced history of Bridgestone layoffs

• May 2026, Bridgestone Golf sets Covington ball plant closing

  Bridgestone Golf set its Covington, Georgia golf ball plant to close June 30 in a May 1 release, affecting 86 manufacturing employees; its corporate and business roles were to move to a new Georgia headquarters by year's end.

• January 2026, Firestone Fibers and Textiles layoff notice

  Firestone Fibers and Textiles set 81 job cuts at its Kings Mountain and Gastonia, North Carolina plants for March 27 to April 28, the Rock Hill Herald reported, and Bridgestone said it would outsource a product once shipped to Joliette, Canada.

• August 2025, Normal, Illinois off-road tire plant buyouts

  Bridgestone said it would seek seniority-based buyouts at its Normal off-road tire plant and keep affected workers on the payroll through October, WGLT reported; 60 to 64 accepted $35,000 lump sums and none were laid off, the Steelworkers local's president told WGLT.

• July 2025, LaVergne truck and bus tire plant stops early

  The LaVergne plant stopped operating July 2, ahead of its July 31 closing date, and a company letter said pay and benefits would continue through that date, WSMV reported, while Bridgestone's severance talks with the Steelworkers went on.

• January 2025, LaVergne closing and Des Moines cuts announced

  Bridgestone Americas set its LaVergne truck and bus tire plant to close July 31, affecting about 700 hourly and staff teammates, in a January 23 release that announced US corporate, sales and operations cuts and reductions at its Des Moines farm tire plant, where Iowa Public Radio reported $35,000 buyouts offered to 130 workers.

• July 2024, Des Moines plant's first layoffs since 1990

  The Des Moines tire plant's first layoffs since 1990, Iowa Public Radio reported, were announced at 118 workers and later cut to 89.

What to do if you're laid off from Bridgestone

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Bridgestone's biggest hubs: Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Bridgestone's hub states run: Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.