The Sumitomo Rubber USA tire plant in the Town of Tonawanda was closed Thursday as part of a planned weeklong shutdown, so Anthony Vick was not supposed to be there.

But when he started getting messages from co-workers about reports of the plant's closure, which will cost 1,550 union and nonunion employees their jobs, he drove to the plant.

By the time he arrived, he learned that he was unemployed.

"They said they told people," Vick said of the company. "They never notified nobody the plant was closing."

Multimedia Photos: Sumitomo/Dunlop tire plant in Tonawanda through the years

Vick, 55, has been at the plant for five years. His 25-year-old son has been at the plant for about one year. He was trying to notify his son but he was not picking up his phone, Vick said.

"He was excited to have it," he said. "He has a baby on the way."

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Vick said the job brought stability and prosperity to his family.

"It's a life-changing job, but it's going to be different now," Vick said. "That's for sure, especially as a young Black person, with just a high school education, you're not going to find a job paying what I was making here."

And Vick said to find out about the loss of his job through news reports and not through the company was particularly insulting.

"This is people's livelihoods, just how you take care of your families," Vick said. "So I think it could have been communicated a little better. But, you know, business is business, I guess."

Sumitomo employees had just been given a paid week off, which the company told them was being provided because they had too many tires in stock and needed to reduce inventory.

"We've been off this past week, paid, and then they kind of just blindsided us with this," said Jay Withey, a mechanic at the plant for the last year and a half.

Withey said he and his co-workers learned of the closure from news outlets Thursday morning. He didn't get an official company communication until 12:16 p.m., via a text that said: "We regret to inform you that after a very difficult decision, SRI has decided to close the SRUSA Tonawanda facility effective immediately. This decision was not made lightly, and we understand the significant impact it has on each of you, your families and our entire community."

Withey said many employees feel misled, especially after seeing the recent investments Sumitomo has made in the facility. They also were under the impression that the company should have provided more notice.

He was busy Thursday talking to co-workers as they came to terms with the sudden announcement. He said one of his co-workers went to the plant's credit union this morning, and was informed by staff there that they had 15 minutes to leave the premises.

"This is heartbreaking news," said Joe Herbeck, 68, a retired employee of the plant who lives in North Tonawanda. "I still have a lot of friends there. Friends who are making decent paychecks and their families depend on it. Many of them were hoping their kids and grandkids could work there someday."

Herbeck retired in 2019 after working 24 years at the plant. His late father, Harry, died in 2003 after working 44 years there.

"I was worried that something bad like this was going to happen. I first heard a rumor that the plant might be closing about 10 days ago," Herbeck said. "It's so disappointing. This plant has been in operation for more than 100 years. It's gone through so many ups and downs, but always survived. The government has pumped a lot of money into this plant over the years."

Employees don't know what will happen next. For mechanics like Withey, they have their personal tools inside the facility and no way right now to get in to retrieve them.

"They're all locked up in there, with no answer of when we can get them," he said. "We just feel very misled."

It's made for many difficult, emotional conversations between workers Thursday.

Withey had a conversation with a co-worker who is in his 60s and is now scared of where he will work next and if anyone will hire him so late in his career. Other co-workers in their 50s are worried about the same difficult transition, Withey said.

Withey said he's going to try to get a job in a similar field.

"I'm going to go for the same sort of job," he said. "It's going to be a state job, though."

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