ICEM InBrief, November 19, 2007
French rubber workers at the Goodyear-Dunlop twin plants in
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
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
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,"
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
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
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
That will mean a loss of about 600 of the 750 jobs at the plant there.
The company may be considering keeping the
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
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
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
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
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
SeattlePI.com, November 9, 2007
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. must pay a
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
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
Jurors deliberated less than two days.
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."
The Associated Press, October 31, 2007
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. informed union officials at its
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
For 3 years, 600 workers at a Goodyear tyre factory near
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.
