Under the new labour agreement to emerge in the wake of the USW strike, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will cut starting pay for newly hired workers in the U.S. by 35 per cent to US$13 per hour.
Chief Executive Officer Robert Keegan gave details the new wage rate in a conference call, Goodyear’s first discussion of the contract since the 29 December announcement that the United Steelworkers union members had given their approval.
A New Zealand man has ended up in court after getting more than he bargained for while changing a flat tyre on his car.
A 37-year old Wellington man pulled to the side of a busy street last December and was attempting to change his car’s deflated tyre when police arrived to give him a hand. However, the observant boys in blue spotted that all was not as it should be, and promptly booked the man for drink driving.
While most of us were struggling to get over Christmas, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company were busy finalising the sale of its tyre fabric operations to South Korea’s Hyosung Corporation. The deal was closed on December 29, pending post-closing adjustments and the sale of its operation in Americana, Brazil.
With the USW strike now just an unpleasant memory for Goodyear, the tyremaker is boosting production to make up for any shortfalls in supply. The eleven week strike, which affected approximately 15,000 workers across North America, came to an end on December 22 after an agreement was reached between Goodyear and the United Steelworkers union. Workers began returning to work on January 2.
Goodyear has planned for a full supply of tyres to become available soon after the return of their hourly workers, with Jon Rich, president of Goodyear’s North American tyre unit stating “I have no doubt our associates will quickly return to their normal high levels of performance and productivity.”
The test schedule for the SBK World Championship is continuing at the Losail Circuit in Doha, Qatar, between December 19 and 21. One team from each of the major competing manufacturers will take on the role of evaluating Pirelli’s latest tyres. These Supersport teams will be in Doha in order to provide feedback to Pirelli, information the tyremaker will use when shaping the development of its latest generation of Supersport tyres.
Following the end of testing at Doha the teams have but a short break before the next Pirelli test sessions commence at Australia’s Phillip Island between January 13 and 15.
Both Goodyear and the United Steelworkers Union have remained tight-lipped following negotiations conducted on December 18. The two parties met in a Pittsburgh hotel for the first formal talks in more than a month, and according to a union spokesperson, Goodyear made a presentation and USW negotiators took some time to review Goodyear’s information.
Members of the United Steelworkers Union have scheduled a National Day of Action on December 16 with the aim of bringing the core issues behind its ongoing Goodyear strike into greater public awareness. While the planned action appears to be restricted to an orderly leaflet distribution campaign at 127 American stores that sell Goodyear tyres, the union hopes to prick the nation’s conscience with details of employee grievances.
Michelin celebrated their 2006 Formula One success in their hometown of Clermont-Ferrand on December 12. As a grand finale to the season Renault’s Heikki Kovaleinen conducted a demonstration run, the last organised appearance of a Formula One car fitted with Michelin tyres.
2006 has been a highly competitive year for the tyres, exhausts & batteries industry, although some companies have been enjoying historically high margins. But 2007 promises even tougher times, according to David Pattison, senior analyst with Plimsoll. His findings are based on Plimsoll’s Portfolio Analysis – Tyres, Exhausts & Batteries.
Looking at the tyres, exhausts & batteries market over the past 12 months, while growth was a healthy 6 per cent, well above inflation, almost a third of the 1000 companies monitored by Plimsoll saw a fall in sales. This indicates that much of the growth is being shared by a select band of firms. The effect has been that the industry has begun heading in a new direction, and the companies which have found themselves lagging behind have been slow to recognise this.
On December 8 Bridgestone Firestone North America outlined its intention to invest at least US$33 million in its Aiken County, South Carolina tyre plant in the next four years as part of plans to purchase new production facilities and retool existing equipment.
(Akron/Tire Review) H.Y. (Greg) Pae has been named president of Hankook Tire American Corp., replacing J.W. Choi, who was reassigned to head Hankook’s China operations. Pae took over as 1 December. Pae most recently served as executive vice president of Hankook’s U.S. arm, and has had a number of international assignments during his 20 years with Hankook.
(Akron/Tire Review) Stamford Tires & Wheels announced that Jim Seidel, the former Continental Tire North America executive who joined the company last Autumn, has left the company. Seidel, who departed 1 December, was in charge of sales and operations.
The Continental Tyre Group announced their choice for the position of managing director. David Smith will step into the role at the end of December when current managing director Brian Smith leaves the company after thirteen years in the job.
Interstate has announced that it is updating its Interstate Sport IXT-1 programme in December 2006 and February 2007. The first run of new sizes to come online will be the Interstate Sport IXT-1 225/55 R16 RF (reinforced) in 99W and 235/45R17 RF in 97W. These will be followed in February by 225/55R17 RF in 101W. The complete programme runs from 13 to 18 inches and is available up to W-speed-rating with lots of XL load indexes.
Kwik-Fit Fleet will have a new man at the wheel from 4 December 2006 when Mike Wise returns to the company to replace Nigel Davies, who is to become chief executive of London-based Pirtek Europe, the number one provider of hydraulic solutions. Mr Davies, who has spent almost 14 years with Britain’s largest independent fast-fit company, said he was sad to be leaving the company but the new job was an “opportunity I could not refuse.”
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