Goodyear Rolls Out Last Tire

TylerPaper.com, December 29, 2007

 

On Friday, most of the Tyler Goodyear workers said goodbye to their employer.

A week ago, the company ceased tire production at the Tyler plant on Texas Highway 31 West, a promise Goodyear finalized when it issued the Worker Adjustment Relocation Notice Act in November - a notification given when a company plans to lay off 30 percent or more of its work force.

About 550 people were scheduled for layoff on Tuesday, New Year's Day.

But many had already left the plant for the final time and were using their remaining vacation time because Monday and Tuesday will be holidays. So the workers who had not already left made their final drive out the gate Friday.

Workers from the last shift, the third shift, would leave at 7 a.m. Saturday.

At United Steelworkers Local 746L headquarters, across Texas 31 from the plant, the mood was somber. Employees were calling or making visits to check on benefits or transfer opportunities to other Goodyear plants.

But in the end, Friday was a day when some employees said goodbye to each other, knowing they might not see each other again.

"It's very much like, in anyone's work, when someone retires, the emotion and the sense of loss," said James A. "Bud" Allred, Local 746L treasurer and an employee who will retain his job. "Today, it's like everyone's retiring at once on all the shifts."

Some of the employees have close relationships with each other and depend on each other, Allred said. Much of that would be changed after Friday.

Last year, during negotiations for a new master contract, the USW was only able to receive a company commitment that it would keep the plant open through 2007. Shortly thereafter, Goodyear announced tire production at the plant would cease after this year.

Although most of the employees to be laid off will have left by the end of the third shift Saturday morning, some will be laid off later, after they finish training other workers how to operate equipment in a scaled-down plant operation. Goodyear will retain a mixing operation in Tyler, and rubber will be mixed there for use by other plants.

Another group will move some equipment, clean up and ship tires from the warehouse.

When the few workers who are staying for training and transitioning are finished with their duties, they will be laid off, leaving the plant with about 135 employees.

Union Vice President Harold Sweat, who will assume the president's post on Tuesday, likened the experience to a person coming home from the military and realizing he will not see his friends again, or at least for a long time.

"You have that sense of loss," Sweat said.

He quickly added, however, a bit of a positive note.

"But everybody feels like they're better off for the experience they've had during this time," Sweat said. "The training they've had will prepare them for jobs in the future, so I think everybody will be ready to move forward to whatever life has to give them."

 

Many Goodyear Workers Gone; Friday Shift Final Chapter

TylerPaper.com, December 28, 2007

Although Tuesday is the official date for a large layoff at Tyler's Goodyear plant, many of the workers are already gone.
Jim Wansley, president of United Steelworkers Local 746L, indicated some workers had other things on their minds than showing up for a final day.
"There were only two workdays this week - today and tomorrow," Wansley said Thursday. "And some of them had some vacation days, and they're taking them. ... They actually built their last tires on Friday of last week."
Wansley, who is one of the approximately 550 people leaving the company Tuesday, said the workers will file out the gate at the end of their individual shifts.
A much smaller number of workers will be retained temporarily and will leave at later dates.
They will initially stay at the plant to train other people, and another group will participate in a transition of the area of the plant in which tires were made.
This second group will move some equipment, clean up and ship tires from the warehouse, Wansley said.
Goodyear will retain a mixing operation in Tyler, and rubber will be mixed there for use by other plants.
"We'll just have one end of the plant running and we'll just be mixing rubber," Wansley said. "Everything will just be on a much smaller scale, and without anything associated with tire production."
When the few workers who are staying past Tuesday for training and transitioning are finished with their duties, they will be laid off. Wansley said he did not know how long they would remain in the plant, but, when they leave, the plant will employ about 135 people.
"There will be several weeks before the tires that are in that plant now will be shipped out," he said. "(The warehouse) holds a quarter of a million tires."
Last year, during negotiations for a new master contract, the USW was only able to receive a company commitment that it would keep the plant open through 2007. Shortly thereafter, Goodyear announced tire production at the plant would cease after this year.
A corporate spokesman previously said the decision to cease tire production was the result of costs it would require to modify the plant to produce tires that bring greater revenue.
The Tyler plant received new machinery in recent years to make the more profitable tires, and it had modified some of its existing machinery to do the job, but the company stuck to its plan.
A work force reduction earlier this year left the plant at between 650 and 750 hourly employees.
The workers took buyout offers and early retirement.
Wansley said the local economy will feel the loss of jobs at Goodyear.
A study by Impact DataSource in 2005 showed the Goodyear plant's economic impact totaled $161 million per year statewide.
At 1,075 jobs at the time of the study, salaries totaled $70 million, and economic output reached $388 million.
But the jobs at Goodyear helped create other jobs in the sectors of the economy that supplied the plant. Indirect and induced economic output was $560 million, and salaries $91 million.
Tom Mullins, Tyler Economic Development Council president and chief executive officer, previously said the ripple effect of the layoffs to other jobs will be significant.

Health-care trust for retirees given first judicial approval

Akron Beacon Journal, December 19, 2007

Goodyear and the United Steelworkers have cleared a major hurdle toward the creation of an independent health-care trust for tens of thousands of union retirees.

The tire maker has received preliminary federal court approval for the settlement with the Steelworkers, its largest union, with about 12,200 active workers.

U.S. District Judge John R. Adams in Akron gave preliminary approval to the settlement Friday. The company and union agreed to the settlement in late October, subject to court approval.

Goodyear plans to make a one-time payment of $1 billion into the fund that is called a ''VEBA,'' or Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association. Steelworkers will pay part of their cost-of-living increases and profit sharing into the fund.

Providing it gets final judicial approval, the fund, not Goodyear, will be responsible for paying future health-care benefits for union retirees.

If everything moves along as anticipated, the VEBA process is expected to be completed in the first half of 2008, Goodyear spokesman Keith Price said Tuesday.

The move is expected to save Goodyear about $110 million a year. Goodyear and the USW agreed to create the health-care trust in settling an 85-day strike that ended in late December 2006.

The class members total about 30,000 retirees, their spouses, surviving spouses and other dependents, according to the judge's order.

The VEBA will be run by a committee made up of three union representatives, two retiree representatives and four public members with expertise in benefits. Goodyear will have no one on the committee.

Union retirees have until March 4 to file written objections to the proposed settlement.

Adams set 1 p.m. April 11 for another hearing on whether to issue final approval.

 

 

Steel Workers Help Let's Help

WIBW.com, November 20, 2007

Goodyear workers are "paying forward" some help they received a year ago.

The United Steel Workers Local 307 presented Topeka's Let's Help organization a $10,000 check Tuesday. That's the same amount car dealer Ed Bozarth gave the union to help striking workers last holiday season.

The union's leadership decided the gift should keep giving. Local 307 Vice President Glen Griffith said Let's Help and the United Way are very close to the Steel Workers. He says they are good organizations that helped their members when they were in tough times and continue to help people all year.

"It just feels good to give," Griffith said.

Let's Help Executive Director Ken Gudenkauf says the holidays are always special for the organization. He says they usually adopt 550 families through the Christmas Bureau, and the union's donation would go a long way to providing those families a nice food package and other items, just as mittens and hats.

It's not the first gift the union's given Let's Help. The International Steel Workers sent a $13,000 check following the strike to thank the community for its support of the workers. The international board decided to donate to an organization in each of the communities where workers went on strike.

Let's Help faced tough financial times earlier this summer. Gudenkauf said in July, he thought he wouldn't be able to make payroll through August. Now, he says he believes he could make it through April. He says the organization is still not entirely stable, but it is making progress.

To help with the financial troubles, Let's Help put its three buildings on the market. Gudenkauf says they are negotiating an offer on the building at 234 S. Kansas and there is interest in the warehouse. He says there are no offers on the administrative building, where lunch is served, but he says it's possible Let's Help may decide to consolidate its services in that building. In addition, he credits their bank and the United Way for their willingness to work with the organization.

Gudenkauf says Let's Help serves an average of 300 meals a day. He says that often grows to 500 meals a day around the end of the month.

 

 

French Goodyear Workers Reject Reorganisation that would Increase Work Hours

ICEM InBrief, November 19, 2007

French rubber workers at the Goodyear-Dunlop twin plants in Amiens rejected a company restructuring plan that would increase work hours. With a 65% vote, the two factories, totalling 2,700 workers, said 'no' to the American company's plan to reduce weekly rotation teams from five to four, and cut weekend pay for each worker by 10%.

All the primary French unions at the plants, including ICEM affiliate CFDT, recommended that workers reject the plan, and following the vote, they urged a quick return to dialogue to re-shape the restructuring plan.

Goodyear's plan would also eliminate 450 jobs over three years through attrition. The company is seeking reorganisation of the plants in northern France in order to implement a €52 million modernisation plan to produce high-performance tyres. But the reorganisation would increase work time by rotation of shifts every eight days. Weekend work would also have increased from 28 to 35 hours, had workers accepted the plan.

 

 

 

On Schedule

Gadsden Times, November 15, 2007
Two months after work started on the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. expansion, the project is on schedule for production to begin in the new area of the Gadsden tire plant next year, plant manager Jim Davis said.

The company broke ground Sept. 14 for the 204,000-square-foot expansion to the plant and work began the next week.

"We had a few days of rain during the early days of construction, but we've managed to catch up with our rigorous schedule," Davis said. "The construction crews and our engineering team are diligently working to ensure that we meet our deadline."

Davis said in a press release Wednesday construction of the building addition is being done in phases, with the first phase to be completed by Dec. 31.

Preparatory work for state-of-the-art equipment in component manufacturing has begun in the existing plant.

Additional tire-building equipment is scheduled for installation in the building addition in mid-February.
Company officials said at the groundbreaking ceremony that production in the expansion would begin in the second quarter of 2008.

The entire modernization project is expected to be completed by 2010, officials said.
Goodyear has filed for tax abatements with the city of Gadsden for an investment totaling $125 million, including $118 million in equipment and $7 million in building construction.

At the groundbreaking, Chris Werner, Goodyear's vice president for North American Tire Unit, said the modernization of the plant will enable Goodyear to make more competitive products and "higher-value-added" products.
The plant will continue to produce light truck radial tires, passenger tires and mini-spares.

"It's the only way we can maintain a competitive work force, competitive jobs in North America," Werner said.

Dennis Battles, president of United Steelworkers Local 12, said in an interview Wednesday that workers at the plant are excited about the expansion, especially considering the announcement by Goodyear last month that the company is stopping tire production at the Tyler, Texas, facility shortly after the first of the year.

That will mean a loss of about 600 of the 750 jobs at the plant there.

The company may be considering keeping the Tyler plant open as a mixing operation.

Battles said the plant here was in that situation in February 1999 after Goodyear announced it was ceasing tire production but would keep a mixing operation.

The company later changed direction and in October 1999 announced the plant would stay open.

"We've been in that same position," Battles said, referring to Tyler.

While company officials have not said if there will be more of an investment than $125 million, Battles said the union is "always politicking" Goodyear officials to
add investment and production lines here.

"We're always asking," Battles said.

He said the new tire machines will allow the plant to produce larger-size tires, which would allow additional lines to be added.

The state helped secured the investment here by pledging an incentive package of $30 million - $20 million from a bond issue and $10 million in training funds.

Goodyear also has announced plans for a $200 million expansion at the Fayetteville, N.C., plant.

As part of the agreement for a new three-year contract reached with the United Steelworkers in December after a three-month strike, the company has agreed to invest $550 million in Goodyear plants in North America in the next three years.

Tyler Prepares Relief Efforts For Goodyear Employees

TylerPaper.com, November 14, 2007

 

Relief efforts for laid-off Goodyear workers will include benefits processing, job fairs and perhaps monies for work force training, leaders of those efforts told the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce board on Tuesday.

The current master contract between Goodyear Corp. and the United Steelworkers, ratified in late December 2006, indicated the Tyler plant would stay open at least through 2007.

On Oct. 30, Goodyear announced that tire production at the plant would cease in January and a layoff would eliminate most of the hourly positions in the plant. That news was bad, but at least workers and their families have had time to prepare for it, state Sen. Kevin Eltife told the board.

"The fact that we've got an extra year, it's not as dire a (situation) over there for the employees," said Eltife, R-Tyler.

Eltife was chairman of a task force that assembled a year ago to bring together local social service organizations into a one-stop shop for workers who either needed help getting through last year's union strike or who would need help if they were to be laid off.

Fred Peters, coordinator of Eltife's task force, said a transition committee composed of union representatives, plant representatives and ex-officio members has been assembled to oversee the workers who will lose their jobs.

Layoff notifications will go out Jan. 1-14, Peters said.

Jim Wansley, president of United Steelworkers Local 746L, previously said the company indicated that more than 600 of its approximately 750 hourly employees would be laid off.

The workers transition committee will establish another one-stop shop for laid-off employees. Services could include job fairs and the processing of unemployment benefits.

Peters said workers might be eligible to receive Trade Adjustment Assistance or Trade Readjustment Allowances.

TAA is a federally funded employment program that helps people who have had their jobs impacted by foreign imports. According to program information, workers could be eligible to receive re-employment services, allowances for job searches or relocation, a health coverage tax credit or training.

TRA is income support for people who have used all their unemployment compensation and whose jobs were affected by foreign imports.

Tom Mullins, Tyler Economic Development Council and chamber president and chief executive officer, said the TEDC will apply to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, for a $100,000 grant to be used for developing a strategic plan for dealing with the loss of production and manufacturing jobs.

The TEDC partnered with the Texas Engineering Extension Service, to which it will provide data. The extension service will use the data in writing the grant application.

Mullins also said the East Texas Workforce Board is applying for a $200,000 U.S. Department of Labor regional innovation grant for development of a strategy for an economic development initiative and work force development, which includes training and skills development.

Goodyear plans to retain some employees so it can continue to operate a mixing center at the plant.

Mullins said the facility would become a source for a rubber compound to be used by other plants that need that additional rubber for their tire production. He said the center would use about 40 percent of the total plant space.

"This is mostly bad news, but they're going to be here for two more years," Mullins said, referring to the remaining two years left on the master contract.

Although the chance may be slim, Mullins said Goodyear could restart tire production at the Tyler plant if market conditions demand it.

Goodyear told to pay woman $4 million

SeattlePI.com, November 9, 2007

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. must pay a Seattle woman nearly $4.4 million after a King County jury found that the company demoted her after she complained of discrimination because of her sexual orientation.

The Superior Court jury reached the decision this week in a lawsuit filed by Melissa Sheffield, 47, who had been working for a Seattle Goodyear store for nearly 10 years before the problems arose in 2003.

Jurors found that a manager and the company retaliated against her by demoting her in May 2003, and that the company didn't reasonably accommodate her so that she could work in spite of an on-the-job injury.

She was demoted after reporting a co-worker who had talked about disliking gay people and who made an inappropriate comment when she confronted him about bringing a gun to work, according to her Seattle attorney, Daniel Johnson.

Johnson said he was pleased with the jurors' decision. "I think they were really upset by what they saw as an employee who was seeking protection in the workplace," he said.

Goodyear argued that Sheffield was demoted for her own misconduct. An attorney for the company could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

Jurors deliberated less than two days.

Goodyear employees say they want answers

KETKNBC.com, November 1, 2007
TYLER-- Goodyear employees are now wondering what will happen next as tire production is scheduled to stop by the end of this year.
Come December Goodyear is laying off nearly 600 employees and right now those employees say they want more answers.
For many of the Goodyear employees, a year of uncertainty is all they have seen.
More than a year after going on strike these men and women say they still don't know exactly whats going to happen in the next two months.
Goodyear employee Phillip Gordon said, "In the next couple weeks there going to be a lot of questions that been asked thats going to have to be answered."
The Union President Jim Wansley says this is what employees do know:
In December the plant will no longer make tires.
This means an estimated 600 people will be out of a job.
But, Goodyear will continue to make rubber which means about 150 employees stay at the plant.
Union President Jim Wansley said, "Now we have some idea of what we're going to have, we're just going to have to figure out how we're going to move forward."
Moving forward, many say will be the hardest part.
Making tires for Goodyear is all many of the employees know.... it's all they've been doing for years.
Goodyear Employee Charlie Waters said, "I left a job I had for 13 years to come here, thinking it would be the last job I ever had."
For Waters and many others, finding a new career is next.
Waters said, "The East Texas Free for all. Just like the old Oklahoma land rush. Everybody will be out there looking and knocking on doors."

Goodyear plans to end Texas tire production in January

The Associated Press, October 31, 2007

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. informed union officials at its Tyler plant on Tuesday that it will stop producing tires there in January.

Jim Wansley, president of United Steelworkers Local 746L, said the union received a worker adjustment relocation notice, which is required when the Akron, Ohio-based company plans a layoff that involves more than a third of its work force.

"Right now, the impact of what Goodyear has said they intend to do would be over 600 jobs," Wansley said in a story for Tuesday's online edition of the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

Wansley said talks would begin Wednesday on the timeline for carrying out Goodyear's plans for the plant and how many jobs will actually exist there.

Tire production is expected to cease somewhere between Jan. 1 and Jan. 14.

Workers at the Tyler plant make wholesale private label tires. The plant's fate was a key issue in negotiations of a new contract. The deal worked out in late 2006 after a three-months strike allowed Goodyear to stick with plans to close the plant but provided a one-year transition period during which workers would have the opportunity to take advantage of retirement buyouts.

 

From ICEM magazine, Global Info

For 3 years, 600 workers at a Goodyear tyre factory near Bangkok have struggled and fought for their rights. At present, they are in collective negotiations with factory managers, talks that have been blemished by subtle threats and intimidation by the senior manager.

Workers have one major thing going for them: they are more united now than ever. For the first time in years, the plant-level committee, behind the banner of ICEM-affiliated Petroleum & Chemical Workers Union (PCFT), speaks in unison. Workers no longer have part of this committee dominated by management.

In early September, this unity was on display. When the company fired two women, for using their own funds to make bags and shirts emblazoned with Goodyear’s logo for distribution to rural school children, the workers reacted: some 90% of the 600 showed up for work dressed in black.

Workers and the committee are unanimous about Anan Pol-ung. On 25 July 2007, they presented a formal letter to management demanding his reinstatement. The former president of PCFT’s union at Goodyear was sacked in 2006, his second firing. He first drew management’s wrath when – as shop-floor leader – he made a stand with 20 contract workers, all on fixed-term, yearly contracts The ICEM intervened in 2005 to win his job back.

The ICEM’s Goodyear Global Union Network is now demanding Anan’s reinstatement on this second dismissal.

A fateful event in 2007, something also serving to tighten the ranks, was a major fire occurring on 2 March that closed the factory, and halted production of auto, truck, tractor, and aircraft tyres. Workers were bitter when the senior manager offered to pay only 50% of their salaries.

All workers were recalled by July 2007. But the fire left safety problems in its wake. In one example, Goodyear seeks to remand a union committeeman in industrial court. The incident involves a small fire that happened after workers returned to their jobs. He is charged with a formal safety warning because he informed the plant’s safety chief that a fire alarm was not operating properly. That safety officer had left the company, and Goodyear failed to correct the problem.

Even before the big fire, managers eliminated a specialised fire team in order to save on overtime costs.

At a meeting in June, the union committee, together with the union representing 30 supervisors, agreed that they will not be bullied by any manager. They agreed also that they deserve fair and commensurate pay in this set of 3-year talks. And they also re-committed to make the best, and most reputable, aircraft and land tyres in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Contract Settled, But Problems Persist at Goodyear’s Slovenia Tyre Plant

ICEM InBrief, September 24, 2007

ICEM affiliate Chemical, Non-Metallic, and Rubber Workers’ Union (KNG) of Slovenia and the Sava management of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. at Kranj came to wage terms at a tyre factory this summer, but the new contract still needs attention. At issue is how management is – or rather, is not – implementing language recently inserted into the collective agreement.

In addition to winning Chemical, Non-Metallic, and Rubber Workers' Union (KNG) of Slovenia and the Sava management of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. at Kranj came to wage terms at a tyre factory this summer, but the new contract still needs attention. At issue is how management is – or rather, is not – implementing language recently inserted into the collective agreement. a €90-per-month increase, the 900 workers also agreed to a plan to reduce sick leave in exchange for a sizeable bonus scheme. Management has failed to adequately implement this plan, as well neglecting other aspects of the new agreement. Shop-floor leaders at the Kranj tyre and engineered products plants, Goodyear's prize operations in Eastern and Central Europe, together with and KNG's Andrej Zorko, are eager for managers to put the new collective agreement into effect.

Goodyear produces auto, truck, and bus tyres in Kranj. It makes Sava tyre brands there, as well as its trademarked Avant A3 steer-axle tyre and the Orjak 03 drive-axle tyre. In 2006, Goodyear exceeded all business targets at the Kranj plants. It also made its one millionth tyre there. Goodyear is one of Slovenia's largest exporters.

The company entered into a majority-stake joint venture with the Sava Group in 1998, which gave it 60% of the tyre-making plant and 75% of the engineered products operation. Goodyear paid US$120 million for those stakes. Previously, Continental AG of Germany held a 28% share of Sava.In 2002, Goodyear bought another 20% stake in of operations for US$38.5 million, and, two years later, the company bought up the remaining shares to give it full ownership.

Besides being affiliated to the ICEM, KNG Trade Union is a proud affiliate of the Association of Free Trade Unions (ZSSS) of Slovenia, which is currently leading an effort in the country to offset inflation with increases in salaries for all workers.

FRENCH GOODYEAR-DUNLOP SITES STILL UNDER THREAT

Les Echos, September 17, 2007

Summary proceedings were launched last week for hindrance to the freedom to work with regard to US tyre manufacturer Goodyear-Dunlop's plans to restructure its French plants in Amiens. French trade unions CGT and SUD called for the two sites to be blocked last Friday in opposition to the referendum on the restructuring plans. The ballot was cancelled as a result, and CGT called for negotiations to resume, despite a picket line still being in place.

Three trade unions representatives have been called before court this morning. Although management at Goodyear-Dunlop is still emphasising that the sites are not threatened with closure, it issued a statement in which it described the blockade as an inadmissible hindrance to staff's freedom of expression, particularly given the uncertainty of the sites' future. It would be a devastating blow to the plants if the company were to cancel the planned 52m-euro investment into upgrading them, and one which local staff intend to avoid at all costs.

 

 

GOODYEAR-DUNLOP TO CONSULT FRENCH STAFF OVER PLANS FOR AMIENS SITES

Les Echos, September 7, 2007

Management at US tyre manufacturer Goodyear-Dunlop is due to consult staff at the company's French sites in Amiens on September 14 and September 15 with regard to plans to restructure the two sites. Following the strikes over the summer, negotiations between management and trade unions appear to be in a state of deadlock. French trade union CGT has refused the reappraisal of the agreement made in 2000 and all restructuring of the organisation of production teams. However, management believes that only through cutting jobs by not replacing employees taking retirement, increasing the plant's annual activity from 329 days to 350 days, and extensively upgrading installations can production be quickly reoriented towards high-performance tyres. Goodyear-Dunlop has said that the Amiens plants must be adapted to the needs of the market.

Mickael Wamen, secretary of CGT at Dunlop, has said that with the same amount of investment, the Amiens plants could be as profitable as the sites in Germany. To avoid further aggravating the issue and thereby affecting the entire investment programme, CGT has called for staff to vote against the decision at the September meetings' referendum. No further strike warnings have been issued.

 

Embattled tyre and rubber industry concludes historic agreement

NUMSA, August 20, 2007

Embattled tyre and rubber industry has concluded a momentous agreement ending a protracted four-week old strike by 6 000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).

Today (Monday) and the following day thousands of striking workers in six plants in Port Elizabeth, Durban, Ladysmith and Brits are expected to report for work as the final settlement will be concluded after the weekend report- back meetings.

The three- year agreement to be ratified after report back meetings have been held include an across- the- board increase of 8% and 7, 5% for the second and third year increases.

Other main areas of in-principle agreement also related to skills-based development grading, five months maternity leave, annual leave of 15 working days  and 10,5% increase in employers’ contribution on provident fund.

Port Elizabeth-based Goodyear tyre manufacturer has also agreed to absorb about 100 contract workers into its permanent staff complement, out of the total of 250 employees hired under labour brokerages. And a consolidated process to phase out the remaining 150 labour brokers would be finalized.

At least 6 000 Numsa members in six major tyre manufacturing plants including Goodyear, Continental, Firestone in  Port Elizabeth and Dunlop factory in Durban, Ladysmith and Bridgestone in Brits, North West downed tools in July to demand 10% wage increases.

Numsa demanded among others the scrapping of the labour brokers in the industry.

 

 

Thailand's Goodyear Workers Warrant Support

Message from ICEM (www.icem.org)

 

In a week’s time in Thailand, on August 10, 600 Goodyear workers will present their demands to management at a tire plant near Bangkok. Those demands should not provoke local managers much, since they are modest and include issues on health care benefits, continuation of wage adjustments, and maybe narrowing the 4-tier wage scheme that exists inside the factory.

 

If they have any advantage in this set of 3-year talks, it is that they are more united now than they have been for the past several years. The local union committee speaks in unison, and even better, leaders of a 31-member supervisors unit at the factory are actively engaged with leaders of the local union.

 

What have united them are the words of Richard Fleming and the atmosphere he has created since he became managing director of this plant late in 2006. Fleming, from New Zealand, has arrogantly let it be known what he expects, in terms of social benefits that workers will concede to him. He has done it through fear of a lockout, he has done it by threats to move tyre production from Thailand to Viet Nam. And he has done it by short-changing workers following a major fire in the plant earlier this year that closed it.

 

The local union at Goodyear in Thailand is affiliated to the Petroleum & Chemical Workers Union (PCFT), an important affiliate to the ICEM, the global federation of trade unions for the energy, chemicals, mining, rubber and other sectors. Through the PCFT, the ICEM has been deeply involved with the plant-level union at the Goodyear tire factory in Wattana, Thailand.

 

The ICEM is requesting that readers of this blog send a message of support and solidarity to the 600 workers and 31 supervisions at Goodyar’s Bangkok tire factory. The local union guarantees that all messages will get forwarded to all workers. Please send messages to: icemthai@yahoo.com.

 

Goodyear (Thailand) Public Company Ltd. makes auto, truck, tractor, and commercial aircraft tires. In recent years, the plant has seen a reduction in force. Fleming has added to the pain by now denigrating the factory, saying that it accounts for less than 1% of Goodyear’s totals. He has said this in the context of the plant closing threat.

 

The 600 workers and 31 supervisors take great pride in their production and in the proportion of profit their labours create for Goodyear. The workers also take great pride in the fact that they are one of the few rubber plants in Asia-Pacific that makes aircraft tires. They make these tires with care and precision, and they are stung when Fleming discounts the factory and eyes benefits that he wants slashed.

 

To bear out the new resolve of the local union committee, they met with management on July 24, 2007, and one agenda item was to pass a formal letter to the company demanding the reinstatement of Anan Pol-ung to his rightful job inside the factory. Anan, the former president of the plant-level union, was fired last year. He first drew negative attention from Goodyear’s Thai management nearly three years ago when he made a stand with 20 contract workers in the warehouse and rubber stock department. These workers had been working for up to 10 years on a temporary, or year-to-year basis. The wanted to join the PCFT, and Anan was helping them do just that.

 

Following the exchange of demands on August 10, the first set of negotiations in this round of bargaining will occur on or around August 22.

 

Goodyear workers in Thailand need messages of support from trade unions, and from other Goodyear workers and managers from around the world. Please send your own message to icemthai@yahoo.com and it will be translated into Thai, and distributed to workers.

 

Steelworkers ratify Goodyear Engineered Products contract

Modern Tire Dealer, July 30, 2007

 

The Carlyle Group can proceed with its acquisition of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s Engineered Products division thanks to the United Steelworkers' ratification of a new labor contract with the company.

Four Engineered Products plants will become part of a new entity, EPD Inc., when the sale is finalized.

"Outstanding issues between USW International and Carlyle were resolved over the weekend," say union officials. "The issues related directly to establishing a secure trust fund for retiree health care completely separate from the one at Goodyear."

Carlyle was required to finalize a new labor deal with the Steelworkers before it could acquire the division. Carlyle intends to continue producing Goodyear brand hoses, belts and other products.

 

 

South Africa Goodyear, Tyre Strike Starts to Bite as Parties Stand Firm

Africa News, July 26, 2007

THE strike in the tyre manufacturing industry is starting to bite, with production affected adversely but both employers and unions are sticking to their guns with no resolution in sight.

Almost 4000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) out of the 7800 workers in the tyre industry downed tools over wages on Friday, demanding a 10% increase.

This comes after several rounds of negotiations failed to resolve the dispute with employers represented in the New Tyre Manufacturing Industry Association offering a 7% increase . Association chairman Basil Smith said employers had put a 7,5% salary increase on the table, linked to production improvements.

"We are producing the minimum number of tyres and it is difficult to gauge how much the industry is losing a day as a result of the strike. We have given union representatives our offer to go and consider," Smith said.

Romano Daniels, group communication manager at Bridgestone, said "we are unable to produce one tyre in our Brits and Port Elizabeth plants".

Goodyear PR manager Lize Hayward would give details on production.

 

South Africa Goodyear, Tire Strike Continues

Akron/Tire Review, July 25, 2007

 

The South African tire industry strike continued into its third day on July 24, with wage negotiations progressing slowly, according to the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa (NUMSA), which represents some 4,000 strikers at plants operated by Dunlop, Continental, Goodyear and Bridgestone.

Industry spokesperson Attie Higgs said progress had been made on several non-wage issues, but workers remain firm on their 10% wage increase demands. According to reports, Dunlop, Continental and Goodyear had made a 7.5% offer, while Bridgestone offered a 7% wage increase.

“We want to force employers to improve their offer because the industry has been reporting good profits over the past three years. We are hopeful of a significant wage increase,” a NUMSA spokesperson said.

Higgs refutes those claims, saying that there had been little growth and that, over the past three to four years, the industry marketshare had dropped as a result of imports.

Higgs said the short-term impact of the strike would be limited, but an extended strike would have severe implications.

 

Tire workers strike in South Africa

Akron Beacon Journal, July 24, 2007

Continental AG, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Bridgestone Corp. suspended production at their South African tire plants as workers went on strike for higher wages, a labor union said.

Employees at six tire factories stopped work in support of a 10 percent pay raise. Employers have offered a 7 percent increase, more than the annual inflation rate of 6.4 percent.

A spokesman for the National Union of Metalworkers said more than 5,000 were off the job.

 

 

Goodyear, union still at odds

Topeka Capital-Journal, July 19, 2007

Six months after Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the United Steelworkers reached a national labor agreement, negotiations continue on a local supplemental contract that has implications for employees' work and vacation rules.

"Everybody in our membership thought this would be an easy deal, but it's proved harder," said Glenn Griffith, vice president of Local 307.

Griffith said the national deal, or "master agreement," sets the tone for such big-ticket items as wages and benefits, but it's up to local negotiators to work out the smaller points, like work rules and how overtime and vacation can be scheduled.

He said the union has been meeting with Goodyear since at least April.

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Goodyear, other tire companies risk South Africa strike

Akron Beacon Journal, July 18, 2007

Continental AG, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Bridgestone Corp. will face strikes at South African tire plants starting Friday after pay talks collapsed, a labor union said.

About 6,000 workers at six factories are demanding 10 percent raises, while employers are offering 7 percent, the Johannesburg-based National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. South Africa's inflation rate is 6.4 percent.

 

Ex-Goodyear unit, USW reach contract

Akron Beacon Journal, July 18, 2007

The United Steelworkers union has reached a tentative contract with the buyer of Goodyear's Engineered Products division.

In March, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced it planned to sell almost all of its Engineered Products business, which makes hoses and conveyor belts, to The Carlyle Group for $1.475 billion.

As part of the deal, Goodyear has agreed to let Carlyle use the Goodyear brand in connection with the Engineered Products business.

The division has about 6,500 employees worldwide in 32 countries, including about 500 at the Lincoln, Neb., production plant and more than 400 at a nonunion plant in Norfolk, Va.

News from the Slovenian KNG

KNG has been at the negotiations for one week with the company’s local management on salaries. There are some progressions, but it is not final point. What they demand is to reach the average salary level of the industry and region. The current average salary paid by Goodyear is Euro 200 behind the general average.

 

News from the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union

Bargaining is in its final stages. The members appear to have successfully defended all of their established conditions and standards, having fought off an attempt by the company to undermine their popular rostering system. However, the cost of this may well be a very low pay rise - 5% over a 2 year agreement. Significantly, the members have managed, through a commonl law trust deed, to defend established rights to control and where necessary prevent contracting out of work done by the permanent work force. This issue is a prohibited matter for collective agreements in the Workchoices system.

 

Goodyear Chemical obtains labor pacts

Rubber & Plastics News

Goodyear has new three-year contracts set at its chemical operations in Houston.

The pacts cover about 260 production workers and craftsmen represented by six different labor unions and are retroactive to Aug. 1, when the previous deals expired.

The International Union of Operating Engineers represents the largest group of workers in Houston, between 150 and 160.

Goodyear Chemical is part of the company's North America Tire business, with the Houston site producing emulsion SBR.

 

 

Goodyear posts $174 million loss

Akron Beacon Journal staff report

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said it lost $174 million for the first quarter ending March 31 because of costs related to the 86-day United Steelworkers strike in late 2006.

Sales were up 1 percent to $4.5 billion, the Akron tire maker reported this morning.

The company said it has reduced the cost estimates on its North American Tire division to between $100 million and $120 million for 2007, down from previous estimates as high as $230 million. The company said it is recovering from the Steelworkers strike faster than it had anticipated.

Goodyear is raising its cost-savings goal from more than $1 billion by 2008 to as much as $2 billion by 2009.

 

Network Newsletter for Spring 2007

The Goodyear Global Union Network has issued the Spring 2007 edition of its newsletter, Global Solidarity. It is available here in English, Spanish, French and German. Use the translation tools on this website to translate into your language.

Network Statement

The Goodyear Global Union Network held a meeting in Akron, Ohio, USA on 19-20 March 2007. The Network issued a statement at the conclusion of the meeting. It is available here in English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese.

Goodyear to Sell Engineered Products Business to The Carlyle Group

AKRON, Ohio, March 23, 2007 – The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company today announced that it has agreed to sell substantially all of its Engineered Products business to EPD, Inc., an entity sponsored by Carlyle Partners IV, L.P., for $1.475 billion, subject to certain post-closing adjustments. Read about at http://www.goodyear.com/media/pr/23450fi.html