USW OKs Four-Year Deal With Bridgestone

(Tire Review) The last of the major tyre-makers has a new contract with the United Steelworkers.Union workers at Bridgestone Americas’ tyre plants ratified a new four-year master contract with the tyre-maker Saturday, brining the 2009 master contract negotiations to a quiet end.

Previously, union workers approved a new four-year deal with Goodyear and a three-year pact with Michelin.

The new Bridgestone contract, approved by a two-to-one margin, covers some 4,500 workers at plants in Akron, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; Russellville, Arkansas; and LaVergne, Tennessee. A separate agreement was ratified at Warren County, Tennessee.

Details of the new contract were not released, but the USW said the new Bridgestone deal protected wages and health care benefits for active and retired workers.