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Bosses and Stormont under fire for tyre factory closure
Michelin production facility set to shut with loss of 860 jobs

TRADE union leaders in Northern Ireland condemned Michelin bosses and unionist politicians following yesterday’s announcement that 860 jobs will be lost in Ballymena when a tyre factory closes.

The company announced that it would “run down” and shut its factory in the County Antrim town by mid-2018 as part of a restructuring plan that will also see investment in its facilities in Dundee and Stoke-on-Trent.

The announcement comes a year after another major local employer, the JTI Gallagher tobacco factory, announced plans to close its operation in the town by 2017, with the loss of 877 jobs.

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