QUINCY, Ill., Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Titan
International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI), manufacturer of Titan Tires, Titan
Wheels and Goodyear® Farm Tires, is responding after
Wednesday's reports focused on Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's
alleged diversity training document that gained nationwide
attention.
"Wednesday morning, we learned of the news being shared about
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's reported diversity training
and felt it was important to make clear that Titan is in no way
connected to the training in question," said Titan CEO,
Paul Reitz. "While Titan has
licensing rights to design, produce and sell the Goodyear Farm
Tires brand, we are an entirely separate publicly held entity under
separate management and have no shared staff or facilities with
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company."
The fight for American jobs
President Trump has
repeatedly expressed support for U.S. manufacturers through his
"Buy America" campaign. Titan has long-been a champion of American
manufacturing and has invested heavily in legal action to protect
American manufacturing jobs. In 2017, Titan won a favorable 5-0
ruling from the ITC fighting back against the unfair trade
practices from India and
Sri Lanka related to off-road
tires. In this respect, President Trump and Titan are well-aligned
in protecting the more than 2100 hard-working Americans employed by
Titan in multiple manufacturing facilities across Illinois, Iowa, Ohio
and Tennessee who proudly build
Goodyear Farm Tires, along with Titan Wheels and Titan Tires.
Titan has also played a vital role as an essential service
during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. When others shut
down, Titan ensured safe operation to keep America's vital
workforce working with the equipment they need to do their
jobs.
"One of our primary concerns as a manufacturer is the safety of
our employees. Titan is proud of the important role we play in our
nation's critical infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic, as
our plants have continued to operate safely in support of the
farming and construction industries," said Reitz.
"Titan has a diverse workforce throughout all of our locations
in the U.S. that build some of the world's best agriculture,
construction, and forestry wheels and tires. While at work, we
believe our employees should be focused on operating safely and
manufacturing high-quality products, and therefore employees are
allowed to wear what they would like as long as it meets safety
standards and isn't offensive," said Reitz. "Our employees take
tremendous pride in our products and we welcome any politician,
customer, farmer, construction operator, or just curious folks that
would like to see how we operate and meet the fine men and women
that we employ."
The ripple effects
In addition to Titan's 2100
hard-working employees across the United
States, Titan and Goodyear Farm Tires are sold at nearly
2,000 local tire dealers across the country. And a misguided
movement to cancel Goodyear Farm Tires — manufactured and sold by a
completely separate company from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
— could adversely affect thousands of additional hard-working
family-owned tire businesses across the country.
About Titan International, Inc.
Titan International,
Inc. (NYSE: TWI) is a leading global manufacturer of
off-highway wheels, tires, assemblies and undercarriage
products. Headquartered in Quincy, Illinois, the company produces a broad range
of products to meet the specifications of original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarket customers in the agricultural,
earthmoving/construction, and consumer markets. In the United States, the company produces two
distinct tire brands — Goodyear® Farm Tires and
Titan Tires.
© 2020 Titan International
All Rights Reserved.
Please send all reader and sales inquiries to:
corp.marketing@titan-intl.com
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SOURCE Titan International, Inc.