Cleveland Ohio Business News, June 11, 2009
Members of the United Steelworkers union who make racing tires at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s Akron Technical Center have agreed to buyouts for 120 workers there, USW Local 2L reported Wednesday.
The local's 440 members voted on the new staffing level. The vote also affirmed an agreement with the tire maker to preserve 256 USW jobs at the tech center for 2½ more years.
"We will keep the manufacturing staff level at that level through 2012," Goodyear spokesman Ed Markey said.
Union workers who accept the buyout would receive $2,000 for every year of service, to a maximum of $40,000. The local said about 130 of the members eligible for buyouts are of retirement age. If fewer than 120 union members accept the buyout, Goodyear can lay off enough workers to make up the difference, Markey said. He said the buyouts have no effect on engineering and other salaried employees at the tech center.
Some union personnel argued that approval of the agreement could open the door for the company to move its rubber-production operations to Buffalo, N.Y. The company declined to comment on such a possibility.
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