(Akron/Tire Review) The United Steelworkers claims that Goodyear has placed ads in “several North Carolina newspapers” apparently looking to attract experienced tyre plant workers to work as replacements at its plants. Goodyear’s 12 unionized North American tyre plants are being picketed by the USW.
Striking USW workers have stepped up their conflict with Goodyear in North America by staging demonstrations outside the premises of retailers selling the company’s products.
The twelve thousand Goodyear workers now entering their third month of strike action are receiving an early Christmas bonus from their union. The Pittsburgh based United Steelworkers union announced on Tuesday that it will give a $100 Christmas bonus to the striking Goodyear workers and to the approximately nine hundred other workers striking or locked out from other companies.
(Akron/Tire Review) Trying to counter striking worker questions about the quality of tyres being made by temporary workers at Goodyear tyre plants, the tyremaker said that independent quality audits of three of its tyre plants found the company was in 100 per cent compliance with its quality standards. Goodyear said that NSF Industrial Strategic Registrations audits at its Buffalo, Danville, Va., and Fayetteville, N.C. plants – all being struck by the United Steelworkers – found Goodyear’s systems in complete compliance to international quality systems standards.
(Akron/Tire Review) The United Steelworkers union has attacked a report by Himansho Patel, an analyst with JP Morgan Securities, which suggests a key date in the union’s current strike against Goodyear could be 3 January – the date plant worker medical benefit coverage lapses. USW International Vice President Tom Conway sharply criticized the report. “The facts are that the real cut-off date is in mid-April,” Conway Stated in a press release issued 29 November “COBRA legislation gives you 60 days to make a decision to continue (your health care coverage) and another 45 days before you have to make a payment.” However, workers electing to continue medical coverage under COBRA are still liable for those premiums.
The United Steelworkers has walked away from contract talks with Goodyear. The USW informed its members that its negotiating team has left Cincinnati – site of the Goodyear/USW master contract talks – and that no new negotiations had been scheduled. “We will go back when the company has something new to show us,” USW spokesman Wayne Ranick said in a Reuters report. Goodyear, for its part, said that its negotiating team would remain in Cincinnati and stood ready to continue bargaining for a new master contract.
So where do the two sides go from here? Deutsche Bank analysts reported that the USW sees Goodyear’s unilateral announcement of a plant closure as “setting an unacceptable precedent, and the bottom line is they aren’t going to budge on this issue.”
(Akron/Tire Review) While renewed negotiations with Goodyear have reportedly made little ground, the United Steelworkers continues to bang away at the tyremaker. Even as master contract negotiations restarted Monday after a six-week break, the USW took the company to task for its positions and announced a “nationwide day of action” against the company and its products.
Goodyear and the USW continue to meet in Cincinnati, restarting talks that ended when the Steelworkers struck 16 Goodyear plants in North America on 5 October. Both sides reported no progress had been made.
Goodyear and the United Steelworkers will return to the negotiating table in Cincinnati today, both sides confirmed over the weekend. It will mark the first formal talks between the two sides since USW workers hit the picket line on 5 October at 16 Goodyear plants in North America. Last week, Goodyear published information on its most current offer to the Steelworkers, and indicated that it was ready to get back to negotiating. While acknowledging the tyremaker’s move back to formal talks, the USW, however, did not immediately commit to returning to the bargaining table until Saturday.
(Akron/Tire Review) Along with its third quarter report, Goodyear Tire & Rubber CO. today said that it would publish the details of its latest contract proposal to the United Steelworkers. The contract offer will appear on Goodyear’s special negotiations Web site at www.goodyearnegotiations.com. The company said it is publicly outlining its proposal “in order to more clearly communicate with its hourly associates.” Goodyear also said that its negotiating team is returning to Cincinnati “in the hopes USW representatives will return to discussions.” United Steelworkers have been on strike at 16 Goodyear plants in North America since 5 October.
(Akron/Tire Review) With no real signs that strikes at 16 of its North American plants will end any time soon, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has begun hiring “temporary” workers at most of the facilities. Various news reports also say that some striking workers at Goodyear plants have crossed the picket lines and have returned to work. Meanwhile, the United Steelworkers condemned Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s decision to close its Tyler, Texas, tyre plant, saying it was a “further example of the management’s foolish notion that believes it can shrink a company to prosperity.”
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has significantly enhanced its cash position by borrowing nearly $1 billion under an existing revolving credit facility. The company said it borrowed approximately $675 million on October 13 and $300 million on October 5 under its $1.5 billion U.S. First Lien Credit Facility. Thus, this particular facility is almost fully drawn, when including its $500 million deposit-funded facility.
(Akron/Tire Review) So just how long can the United Steelworkers stay on strike against Goodyear? According to the USW, the union is well-prepared for a lengthy strike. The USW says it has some $150 million in its “strike and defence fund,” and the fund is set up to pay each striking worker $100 per week ($115 after the 10th week). This all kicks in after the fourth week of a strike.
(Akron/Tire Review) There has been more talk than talking as the United Steelworkers’ strike against 16 Goodyear plants reached its sixth day yesterday. Formal talks between the tyremaker and the union have not resumed, and while both sides say they are ready to restart negotiations when the other party is ready, neither side seems to be in a hurry to get back to the bargaining table.
(Akron/Tire Review) It appears the United Steelworkers plan to go out on strike against Goodyear today. According to the most recent Solidarity Alert issued by the USW’s Goodyear contract negotiating team, union workers at 12 Goodyear plants will go on strike at 1 p.m. EST on Oct. 5. On Monday, the USW gave Goodyear the required 72-hour notice that it would discontinue working day-to-day under terms of its previous contract with the company.“This morning the company made a comprehensive proposal to the Union, reiterating their full “cut and gut” agenda. In response, your USW Policy Committee issued a 72-hour contract termination notice,” the Alert said. “If no tentative agreement is reached, a strike will begin at 1 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, Oct. 5.” Goodyear and the USW continue their negotiations in Cincinnati. Before the Thursday deadline, the two sides could agree to extend the current contract for a set period if the two sides feel an agreement is close.
The United Steelworkers (USW) has advised Goodyear that it was giving the company the required 72-hour notice to terminate the extension of the parties’ labour contract. The contract expired on 22 July 2006, and both parties agreed to an extension that could be terminated with 72 hours notice. Some industry observers have interpreted this to be a precursor to industrial action. A possible strike would affect Goodyear’s 12 North American plants (eight tyre factories and four engineered products plants).
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