Goodyear off for holidays

The Fayetteville Observer, December 9, 2008

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will take a break from production at its Fayetteville plant between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2.

“We’ve known it was coming,” said Daryl Jackson, president of United Steelworkers Local 959. The official announcement happened Friday, he added.

This will be the fifth week of production halts this year.

Richard Evans, spokesman for the plant on Ramsey Street that employs about 3,000 people, said production will stop at 7 a.m. on Dec. 24 and resume at 7 a.m. on Jan 2.

Because employees will be paid for the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays, they won’t be off the clock long enough to qualify for unemployment claims, Jackson said. During previous production halts this year, workers were able to collect unemployment.

If there is money in the “sub-pay” trust fund, which is contracted between the company and United Steelworkers, it will be made available, Jackson said.

Given the dire situation with the economy and Detroit automakers, union members are generally relieved that they didn’t end up taking more time off than this, Jackson said.

“It’s like I told the membership — with the Big Three in the shape that they’re in, we’re fortunate that we’re 99.9 percent in the replacement market,” Jackson said. Plants dealing in original equipment — tires that go on new cars — are in a far worse position, he said.

Plant officials have said that the four prior weeks of production halts this year were to bring inventory in line with demand.

That’s partly the reason again.

“But this is more of a standard practice at the end of the year,” Evans said. “We’ve done this a number of times.”

During a conference call with investors last month, Goodyear officials told analysts that additional production halts were likely.

“As we continue to manage to the current market conditions, we’ll accelerate our action under our ‘cash is king’ strategy,” Robert J. Keegan, Goodyear’s chairman and chief executive officer, told investors at that time. “We will manage aggressively for cash.”

Part of that means making necessary production cutbacks, said Keegan, who added that demand indicators point to a continued “challenging” environment at least through the middle of 2009.

News from Goodyear Chile

News from Goodyear Chile - the union denounces Goodyear's action in Chile.  During Oct - Nov, around 250 workers from the shop floor and adminstration were fired.  Admin of the company says that for 2009, production projection is not higher than the 3,200,000/yr, even though it was to get to 5,000,000/year.  They also said they would end the the work schedule of 4 shifts (6 days worked, 2 off) - ergo the great number of workers gone.

In November, the Union leadership gave the company suggestions for possible cuts that would preserve jobs and at the same time give the company the biggest margin to manage the crisis.  We regret that the company gnored our proposals and opted for the  most drammatic action for the workers and their families, mass firings.

 

We need direct information on Goodyear's projections from the USA, and the vision from the rest of Latin America.

 

We send fraternal greetings to all of our brothers in the region during such difficult times.

 

Board of Directors, Number 1 Workers Union, Goodyear, Chile

Gerald:
La Organizacion del Sindicato de Trabajadores Nº1 de Goodyear de Chile, denuncia el actuar de la trasnacional Goodyear en nuestro pais.
Durante los meses Octubre- Noviembre fueron despedidas alrededor de 250 personas siendo estos trabajadores de piso y administrativos.
La administracion informa que para el año 2009 la pryeccion de produccion no supera los 3.200.000 de neumaticos al año, siendo que hasta hace un tiempo atras, esa proyeccion llegaba a los 5.000.000 de unidades anual.
ademas informarmamos el termino de la jornada continua de 4 turnos (6 dias trabajados y 2 dias libres) y por ende la salida de gran cantidad de trabajadores.
La Directiva del Sindicato a inicios del mes de noviembre planteo a la administracion de la empresa posibles recortes en la reajustabilidad de nuestros sueldos y por otra parte un recorte de porcentaje del sueldo base, buscando darle a la empresa un mayor margen en la viabilidad del manejo en esta crisis y con el objetivo claro de mantener los puestos de trabajo. Lamentamos que la empresa haya hecho caso omiso de estas propuestas y opto por lo mas dramatico para con los trabajadores y sus familias, el despedido masivo.
 
 
(quisieramos tener informacion directa de las proyecciones de las plantas Goodyear en EEUU y la vision del resto de las plantas en sudamerica).
 
Desde Chile un abrazo fraterno pàra todos los compañeros hermanos de la region, en momentos tan dificiles.
Comunicaciones.
Directiva Sindicato Nº 1 de Trabajadores de Goodyear Chile

 

Goodyear halts Turkey factory production for 10 days

Reuters, December 7, 2008

Two Goodyear Tire factories in Turkey will halt production for ten days in December and January, state-run Anatolian reported a union President Abdullah Karacan as saying.

The two factories in Adapazari and Kocaeli will be closed Dec. 12-17, and from Jan. 2-7. due to lower demand in the sector, said Karacan, who is the president of Turkey's petroleum, chemical and tire union.

He said that production at the factories had decreased 30 percent to 60 percent. No one at the company was immediately available to comment. (Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Goodyear Dunlop cuts 147 jobs in western New York

The Buffalo News, December 1, 2008

TONAWANDA, N.Y. - Union officials say Goodyear Dunlop has cut 147 jobs at its western New York plant because of a slowdown in tire sales.

The company announced plans to reduce its Tonawanda workforce in October, saying it was decreasing production of passenger auto tires and commercial truck tires amid declining demand by the auto industry.

United Steelworkers of America Local 135 says 52 workers took buyouts and 95 workers were laid off Monday.

Production of motorcycle tires was not affected.

Fourth Asia-Pacific Goodyear Rubber Workers' Network Meets in Jakarta, Indonesia

ICEM, November 3

 

The fourth regional meeting of the Asia-Pacific Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Workers’ Network was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 28 October, with 20 delegates from five Asian nations attending. Previous Goodyear Asia-Pacific network meetings were held in Manila, Philippines, in 2005; Singapore in 2002; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2000.

“The continuity of our regional network activity since 2000 shows the commitment of participating unions for international solidarity and cooperation, which gives us high hopes for the future,” stated Toshiaki Hojo, President of the Japanese Rubber Workers’ Union Confederation (GOMU-RENGO). “It is very important to carry out our activities in parallel with ICEM’s Goodyear Global Union Network.”

Hojo added that the Asia-Pacific Workers’ Network of the American company has worked successfully on health and safety issues, and pledged to do more on this issue.

Delegates evaluated past activities of the Goodyear Global and Asia-Pacific Region networks, and the meeting received a detailed report on Goodyear’s financial situation and the labour relations of a company that employs 70,000 workers in 60 factories, operating in 25 countries. Delegates on 28 October identified specific situations in their plants by giving current figures on salaries, working hours, and collective bargaining developments.

Health and safety was handled in a separate session, in which past histories were summarized by ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal Özkan. Following, specific health and safety problems were put forward, and the importance of information exchange was highlighted. The ICEM was requested to provide some information on global standards, specifically on heat limits and safety glasses.

After discussing the ICEM’s 2009 World Conference for the Rubber Industries and other industry conferences to occur next year, the meeting decided – through an action plan – to escalate targeting of joint organising efforts, to focus on training and education programmes, as well as to engage in regular and detailed information exchange through electronic means.

The 2008 regional network meeting also adopted a special announcement toward further action for reinstatement of Thai and Malaysian colleagues, workers who have been unjustly fired by the company.

Goodyear Dunlop plant will try buyouts before layoffs

Associated Press, October 31

 

Goodyear Dunlop Tires North America’s Town of Tonawanda plant will first offer buyouts to hourly workers in its push to reduce its work force by as many as 150 hourly positions.

The company is presenting details of the buyout packages to employees and will give them about two weeks to decide whether to sign up for them, said Diane Zwirecki, a spokeswoman at the Sheridan Drive tire plant. Details of the packages were not disclosed.

If necessary, the plant would then turn to voluntary layoffs to trim its work force. The final step, also if necessary, would be to make involuntary layoffs beginning Dec. 1. Laid-off workers would be eligible to be called back, Zwirecki said.

The plant is reducing its work force as it scales back production of passenger auto tires and commercial truck tires, in response to a slowdown in vehicle sales, Zwirecki said.

Starting Dec. 1, production of those types of tires will be reduced to five days a week at the plant from the current seven-day-a-week schedule.

The plant also makes motorcycle tires, including for Harley-Davidson, but that business segment is unaffected, she said.

The plant has about 1,100 hourly workers, who are represented by the United Steelworkers of America, and about 150 salaried workers. An additional 50 salaried employees work at Goodyear Dunlop’s offices in Amherst.

The plant produces about 5,500 passenger auto tires a day and about 4,700 motorcycle tires a day. It makes about 2,000 commercial truck tires a day.

Earlier this week, a Steelworkers official said the plant has not had layoffs since 1979.

In 2006, the Steelworkers went on strike against Goodyear- affiliated plants in Tonawanda and elsewhere in the United States for about three months. The workers ended up approving a three-year contract.

Goodyear to close for week

The Fayetteville Observer, October 21

 

Goodyear is taking another weeklong break from making tires in Fayetteville.

That means that workers will again have to draw unemployment benefits for a time.

Production at the Ramsey Street plant will be put on pause from Saturday through Nov. 1, said plant spokesman Richard Evans.

The reason, Evans said, is to “align production with reduced customer demand.”

That’s the same reason Goodyear officials gave for a two-week halt in Fayetteville in August, which followed a one-week halt in July.

So this will be the fourth week that the plant will sit idle this year — a year in which motorists have been driving fewer miles and therefore putting less wear on their tires.

A corporate Goodyear spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Monday.

But the trade publication Modern Tire Dealer reported Friday that in addition to the Fayetteville plant, Goodyear facilities in Union City, Tenn., and Gadsen, Ala., would halt production during the last week in October. The publication also reported that Goodyear’s Lawton, Okla., plant will take off four Sundays in a row.

Goodyear employs about 3,000 people and is Cumberland County’s largest corporate tax payer with a total tax bill of $1.6million last year.

Fayetteville employees who will stay home during the weeklong halt will be eligible for unemployment benefits during that time, said Daryl Jackson, president of United Steelworkers Local 959. But it won’t match what a typical Goodyear employee earns.

Still, Jackson said, “if you look around and you see what’s going on with layoffs, we’re fortunate. As it stands, we’re just going to be off that last week in October and possibly a week around Christmas, although there’s no definite answer on (December).”

Officials with Goodyear and the union say the production halts shouldn’t be seen as a precursor to layoffs.

Jackson said he has heard some recent break-room buzz about job cuts. But to his knowledge, there is no truth to any of the rumors.

“Part of the reason for taking time out is so that (Goodyear) won’t have to lay anybody off,” Jackson said.

Evans, the company spokesman, said: “Goodyear monitors the market every week and makes adjustments when needed. And no, there have been no announcements other than the one week in October.

But he added: “Who can speculate within this economy?”

He could not address any later production halts.

Beyond the what is planned for next week, Evans said, “there are no additional announcements from Goodyear.”

Jackson said the automotive industry, like the housing market, is hurting. That obviously affects the plants that feed the market.

“Every time you pick up the newspaper or listen to the news, there’s another plant shutting down,” Jackson said.

He mentioned Georgia Pacific’s recent announcement that it would “indefinitely idle” its lumber plant in Columbus County, where 350 people work.

“We’re very fortunate to be in the situation that we are in,” Jackson said.

“We are still in bad economic times, but it’s going to get better,” he said. “I believe help is on the way.”