13,000 Steelworkers strike at Goodyear

AKRON, Ohio — The United Steelworkers of America went on strike Thursday against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., saying the company is not offering a fair and equitable contract.

The union, which represents about 13,000 hourly workers at 12 Goodyear plants in the United States, last went on strike against the Akron tire maker for 19 days in 1997. The union also staged a four-hour walkout in 1994.

Also affected are an estimated 2,000 workers at four Goodyear plants in Canada. Pickets were being set up in front of Goodyear’s corporate headquarters.

Goodyear said it is implementing contingency plans and is willing to continue bargaining.

“The company left us with no option,” USW executive vice president Ron Hoover said in a statement released at 1 p.m.. “We cannot allow additional plant closures after the sacrifices we made three years ago to help this company survive.”

The USW statement said that in the 2003 agreement, the union agreed to closing a factory in Huntsville, Ala., while also providing Goodyear with additional financial flexibility by accepting wage, pension and health care cuts. The union also got seat on Goodyear’s board of directors.

“We worked very hard with the company in 2003 to deal with a difficult situation,” Hoover said. “While more work can be done, Goodyear has rebounded and other stakeholders have been rewarded accordingly. Now the company seems determined to only take more away from our members.

“Closing more plants would not only cause additional job losses and devastate the communities where the operations would cease, but it would also threaten the long-term viability of Goodyear,” Hoover said. “You can’t build long-term viability by continuing to give up market share.”

Goodyear’s chief negotiator, Jim Allen, said in a statement, “We simply cannot accept a contract that knowingly creates a competitive disadvantage versus our foreign-owned competition and increases our cost disadvantage versus imports.”

Both sides were negotiating up to the 1 p.m. EDT deadline, but remained “miles apart,” according to a spokesman for Akron Local 2, which represents about 470 Steelworkers who make Goodyear racing tires.