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US ITC Will Recommend Chinese Tyre “Remedy”

In the USA, the International Trade Commission has announced that it will recommend a solution by 29 June to the United Steelworkers’ complaint that there is an overabundance of Chinese-manufactured imported tyres on the domestic market, leading to job losses and plant closures. The ITC has already backed the USW’s complaint, by virtue of a 4-2 split in voting, and will send its recommended course of action to president Obama, who is expected to take action by the end of September.

25th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

ITC Rules in Favour of USW Petition

The quantity of Chinese made consumer tyres is indeed harming the local industry, the US International Trade Decision has ruled. On June 18 the ITC voted 4-2 in favour of a United Steelworkers initiated petition, which seeks to restrict permissible imports to 2005 levels. A ruling in favour of the petition means the ITC will meet again later in June to decide upon recommendations for the Obama administration.

19th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Gets Buyout Deal in Akron

USW workers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s race tyre plant in Akron have accepted a buyout scheme. The company has offered buyouts to 120 workers at the plant, about 30 per cent of total employment there, citing reduced demand due to cutbacks made in various race series. USW Local 2, which covers some 440 employees in Akron, passed the offer “overwhelmingly,” according to reports. The deal also preserves some 250 jobs through 2012 at Goodyear’s tech center in the city.

However, the agreement allows Goodyear to move rubber mixing from Akron to its Dunlop plant in Buffalo within the next two years. The one-time buyout offer covers the first 120 employees who elect to take it, and gives $2,000 per year of service up to a maximum of $40,000. If fewer than 120 employees take the offer, Goodyear will have the right to layoff workers to reach that level. (Tire Review/Akron)

10th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear, USW Begin Negotiations Over New Contract

Almost three years have passed since the agreement between Goodyear and the United Steelworkers of America on a new master contract ended several months of strike action, and on July 18 the contract is set to expire. Negotiations between the two parties on a new contract began on June 8 – but whether or not mutually agreeable terms can be reached without revisiting the events of 2006 remains to be seen.

The existing three-year contract covers some 10,300 workers as seven Goodyear factories in the US, and while the USW states its goal in negotiations will be to improve pay and benefits, it acknowledges that job security will overshadow other issues.

9th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

USW Testifies Against Chinese Imports at ITC

The United Steelworkers (USW) reports that its president, Leo W. Gerard, asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on June 2 to give the U.S. tyre industry a “fighting chance” against consumer tyres imported from China. According to the USW, Gerard told the ITC that the union has used every tool at its disposal to save the US consumer tyre industry from total collapse, including contract concessions, wage increase deferrals and improved productivity.

“But all of these efforts aren’t worth a dime if the market is being pulled out right from under us,” Gerard said. “With a short period of relief, we can start to build a sustainable foundation for the future of the American tyre industry and its workers.”

3rd June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Chinese Manufacturers Prepare to Fight USW Trade Case

Chinese tyre manufacturers and exporters are said to be preparing a response to the USW trade case against their products. The China Daily reports that they are receiving assistance from China’s Ministry of Commerce and from local industry associations in their quest to combat was is viewed as a discriminative case and a trade protectionism tool.

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has agreed to look into the case, making it the seventh and to-date largest (in terms of volume) subsidy related investigation the US has conducted against China.

5th May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

USW Files Trade Case Against Chinese Imports

According to statistics published by the United Steelworkers, between 2004 and 2008 the volume of tyres imported from China increased 215 per cent, and the value of these imports by 295 per cent. During this same period US tyre production declined by more than a quarter and the domestic industry’s share of the US tyre market dropped from 63 per cent to less than half. These figures represent conditions in a relatively robust period for the industry – since the second half of 2008 the market has shrivelled considerably, and US based tyre producers are feeling the pinch more than ever. For this reason the USW has filed a major trade case against, in its own words, “the flood of imported consumer tyres from China that have led to thousands of job losses and a growing number of plant closings throughout the US.”

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear’s Topeka Plant to Make 200-225 Redundant

In the US, Goodyear’s Topeka, Kansas plant is the latest to usher in a series of buyouts and layoffs, cutting its staff by between 200 and 225. The decision follows the manufacturer’s announcement made in the wake of its 2008 EOY report, which stated that it would be” taking aggressive action… to better match market conditions” by cutting 5,000 jobs in 2009. Steelworkers Local 307 voted in favour of an agreement to change contract regulations relating to staffing and production levels.

In a news release, Local 307 president Robert Tripp said the economic situation, customer demand and product inventory led union workers to agree to lowering the staffing and production level provisions.
“During these discussions the union’s primary focus was to protect each of our members and their families during these uncertain economic times,” he said in a statement. “This agreement was made to improve the viability of the plant and to improve its cost structure so that the Topeka facility shall remain competitive.”

6th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear to Start Danville Layoffs in March

The USW approved an agreement with Goodyear that would put the tyremaker’s Danville plant on eight-hour work shifts, five days a week, and offer 200 buyouts to qualified employees. Over 400 Goodyear employees will be losing their jobs between buyouts and layoffs, a Goodyear spokesperson said. More than 2,400 people work at the plant, which is Danville’s largest employer. According to a letter to employees, the truck side of the plant will be realigned to three eight-hour shifts, five days a week. Currently, the plant operates seven days a week, 24 hours per day, on 12-hour shifts.

In addition, the furlough that had been postponed from 21-28 February has been rescheduled to 21-28 March. There will be another furlough 3-9 August. The new operating schedule will start when employees return to work after the March furlough. The earliest layoffs will not be effective until March 23. Employees who want the buyout package – which offers $2,000 per year, up to $40,000, to employees between the ages of 53 and 55 with at least 28 years of service at the plant – must apply by 5 March. Salaried employees are not eligible for buyouts, but salaried positions will be cut, company officials said. Those employees will be eligible for the Supplemental Compensation Benefit Plan. Salaried position cuts will be announced by 20 March. (Tire Review/Akron)

23rd February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Pausing Production at Fayetteville Plant

Goodyear will stop production at its Fayetteville, US factory between December 24 and January 2, reports the Fayetteville Observer. According to the newspaper, the week and a half pause was officially announced on 5th December, although it hardly came as a surprise. We’ve known it was coming,” the paper quotes Daryl Jackson, president of United Steelworkers Local 959, as saying.

12th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire Announces Tentative Agreement for Texarkana Factory

Cooper Tire’s four factories are still awaiting the company’s decision regarding its review of US operations, and each is naturally eager to place itself in the best position in terms of its long-term viability. Hot on the heels of the ratification of an agreement between Cooper and the USW regarding the Findlay, Ohio facility comes one for the factory in Texarkana, Arkansas. Cooper Tire announced on December 11 that it had reached a new tentative agreement with the USW Local 752L, which represents workers at the facility. Union members will cast their votes on the agreement on December 13. The USW chapter is currently working under an agreement that would not have expired until 2010.

12th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire Agreement with Findlay USW Union Ratified

During voting that took place on December 7 and 8 the United Steelworkers of America Local 207L ratified a new three-year contract with Cooper Tire & Rubber. The contract, set to expire on October 31, 2011, relates to Cooper’s Factory in Findlay, Ohio.

“This contract was very different from any negotiations we have faced before,” said Mark W. Krivoruchka, Cooper’s senior vice president, Global Human Resources. “The Local 207L committee needed to adjust wages and working conditions in a way that makes Cooper more cost competitive in the marketplace. I would like to thank the local and international union leadership as well as membership and acknowledge the good work they provided to approve and ratify a contract that positions the Findlay plant more competitively in today’s uncertain economic environment.”

10th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Contract Extension Gives Cooper, USW Three More Weeks

Cooper Tire & Rubber agreed on October 31 to extend its contract with USW Local 207L until midnight on November 21, 2008, to allow more time for discussion. The contract was set to expire at the end of October. During this three week extension period, production will continue as planned at the Findlay, Ohio tyre manufacturing facility.

4th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear to Close Headquarters Medical Clinic

Bad news is familiar territory for tyre industry workers in the US these days, and, keeping true to this pattern, at the start of October Goodyear employees received a cheer letter outlining the closure of the company’s medical centre at its corporate headquarters in Akron, Ohio. The centre will close its doors for the last time late in the year.

The Goodyear Family Medical Center had been providing primary-care services to employees and retirees at the site since 1989, with workers and retirees paying lower co-payments by using the practice.

2nd October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear to Draw Portion of its Revolving Credit Facility

Goodyear Tire & Rubber announced September 25 that it intends to draw US$600 million from its existing US revolving credit facility to counter what it says is a ‘temporary delay in its ability to access $360 million of cash currently invested with The Reserve Primary Fund’. The funds drawn also will be used to support seasonal working capital needs and to enhance the company’s cash liquidity position.

26th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors