Scottsville’s Hyosung tire plant shutting down

SCOTTSVILLE -- A tire plant that has been a key part of the Scottsville economy for decades will shut down in January, the town's mayor said this week.

"It is extremely unfortunate that Hyosung has chosen this time of year to so negatively impact its 106 Scottsville employees; the town's deepest sympathies go out to those individuals and their families," Scottsville Mayor John R. Snoddy IV said in a statement.

The workers were notified Tuesday. Plant manager Roger Hutchins told The Associated Press that the shutdown was caused by the slumping economy and pressure from global manufacturers.

The shutdown of such a major employer is bound to hurt the area, said Timothy Hulbert, president and chief executive officer of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

"It's a significant employer in Scottsville and a significant employer in the region," Hulbert said of the decades-old tire plant in the town alongside the James River in southern Albemarle County.

With the year-end holidays around the corner, the shutdown is "a heartbreaker," said Michael Harvey, executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development.

"For the people who have worked there for years, it's a real blow," Harvey said. "With the economy the way it is, the workers are going to have a harder time being absorbed into the work force."

Harvey said the partnership would offer training for those who lose their jobs and help them get new jobs.

The Scottsville facility was built in 1944 by the Defense Plant Corp. to help with the war effort, according to the Scottsville Museum. Uniroyal bought the plant in 1945, and Hyosung took over in 2002.

The peak employment period for the Uniroyal plant was in the late 1960s and early 1970s when it employed 340 workers and operated four shifts, five days a week, according to the museum.

Brandon Shulleeta is a staff writer for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.