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Press Releases
Goodyear
Courtesy' Or A Tactic To Scare Strikers?
A union spokesman called the latest volley "just more of the company's attempt to intimidate our workers into accepting terms that they do not want." The main blast came from a letter the Akron tire maker posted on its strike-related Web site and also mailed to the homes of striking workers. It prominently warns that each Steelworker must pay insurance premiums (of hundreds of dollars a month) by Dec. 15, two weeks from Friday, to retain individual or family health-care coverage after Jan. 3. Goodyear spokesman Ed Markey said the company sent the letter to strikers "in order to further inform them and help them be knowledgeable enough to make an informed decision" about their insurance. Wayne Ranick, the Steelworkers' spokesman, said the Dec. 15 premium deadline is a red herring. Strikers need not pay any premiums until March 4, 2007, when they could secure the same health insurance retroactively to Jan. 4, the day their current coverage lapses. "We have 60 days to pay premiums. The company wants to scare workers." Markey acknowledged that Ranick is correct that premiums paid before March 4 could purchase retroactive coverage. And, in fact, Goodyear's letter to the strikers reinforces that point. The Goodyear spokesman described the missives, addressed to "Goodyear USW Associates On Strike," as a courtesy. Another courtesy to workers involved in this strike, he said, was to answer the questions of workers and their families about benefits.
Posted
on Thu, Nov. 30, 2006 And anyone else on strike who decides to cross can expect the same treatment, USW officials said Wednesday. The union is protected by the First Amendment in its peaceful use of a bullhorn in public, Steelworkers officials said Wednesday at the local's Kelly Avenue hall. ``We have a right to do it by law,'' said Craig Hemsley, USW District 1 staff representative in Akron. He and others said pickets have been peaceful since the strike against Goodyear started in early October. Still, the Steelworkers probably have to do a better job of educating their newest members about what it means to belong to a union, how it works and the sacrifices members make to improve wages and benefits, Local 2 officials and other USW members said. Three Local 2 Steelworkers decided last week to resign from the union and return to work at Goodyear, saying they ran out of money and needed to support their families. They are believed to be the first members of Local 2 to cross a picket line since the local was founded in 1935 as part of the former United Rubber Workers. Pickets reacted angrily, with union members driving to the homes of the three men to use a bullhorn to criticize the three. The three said the Steelworkers used vulgarities and disparaged them in front of their spouses, children and neighbors. Local 2 has put the names, addresses and home and cell phone numbers of the three on the main entrance door to the union hall. ``The only reason they have a job like that to go to is because of people who went out on strike before,'' said Jeff Blankenship, 53, who has worked 34 years for Goodyear in Akron. ``If there hadn't been guys who went out for 4 ½ months in '76, we would not have cost of living (increases).'' The three men who crossed over, Tony Sando in Barberton, Frank Steen in Canal Fulton and David Dann in Tallmadge, declined to comment. After contract negotiations fell apart, about 15,000 Steelworkers went on strike Oct. 5 at 12 Goodyear plants in the U.S. and four in Canada. The previous contract expired July 22. Local 2 has about 470 members who make race tires for Goodyear in Akron. Since the strike started, Local 2 has set up a job-placement service, a food bank and also gives out USW-paid-for food vouchers and gasoline cards, spokesman David Prentice said. Any union member who is struggling financially should come to the union hall or call a union official, he said. Likewise, businesses in the community who can hire strikers on a temporary basis should call the hall, said Bob Gorham, a pipefitter for 37 years at Goodyear. Joe Lapinski, 62, retired in August after working for Goodyear for 29 years. He started in 1966. ``Well, there probably does need to be more education about the forming of the union,'' he said. The wages and benefits the Steelworkers now get came from the work and sacrifice of people like him and the others that came before him, Lapinski said. He was among the thousands of URW members who went on strike against the tire makers in 1976 over getting a cost-of-living clause in their contracts. ``I didn't think about crossing over then,'' he said. ``But I wish they'd hurry and up and settle this thing.'' Doug Gardner, 60, a Mogadore resident, said he thinks the three union members who crossed over didn't earnestly look for replacement work. The electrician said he's worked 36 years for Goodyear. ``The strike isn't just hurting the local strikers,'' Gardner said. ``It just ripples through the economy.''
Mon,
Nov. 27, 2006 Goodyear is determined to abandon the very workers who have made them prosperous. We have taken a proactive approach to protecting jobs instead of waiting for our government to address the situation. When U.S. manufacturers invest capital overseas and not in U.S. factories, they make a conscience decision to produce the products that we used to make and import them back into this country, and it is devastating not only for the workers who used to produce that product and their families, but it wreaks havoc in the communities. As a union we realize this and we will continue to fight for not only our jobs, our families and our benefits, but we will fight for our communities. Not too long ago we were embattled in a struggle with Michelin, the parent company of BF Goodrich. We were faced with concessions, threatened plant closures and the outcry from the general public that believed that union workers were a bunch of lazy workers who were just greedy. It went so far that it prompted a study of the devastating effect a plant closure would have on eastern Allen County. The Allen County commissioners offered tax incentives for Michelin to invest in the Fort Wayne plant. We negotiated contract language to force the company we work for to invest capitol into our plants to improve the products that we make for us to remain competitive. You often see contracts fashioned toward job security and not just wages and benefits. The union agreed in 2003 to grant concessions to Goodyear with the expectation that they would invest in their plants. Now Goodyear is saying it wants to close more plants and dump its promises and commitments to its retirees and not supply them with the health care benefits that were negotiated. We were the target company in this round of negotiations, and again it was a contract that we did not like but we agreed to because BF Goodrich made a long-term commitment. ERIC
BETTS
Goodyear Strike To Affect Rubber Prices Manufacturer currently producing at 40 per cent Goodyear’s
position as a leading global buyer of natural rubber means its ongoing
strike dispute with the United Steelworkers is likely to affect natural
rubber prices, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank. “Since Goodyear
buys approximately 10 per cent of the world production of natural rubber,
the strike at the company’s North American plants has consequences
on raw material prices,” the analysts wrote, adding: “They
are currently producing at 40 per cent of their pre-strike capacity (10
per cent at union plants and 100 per cent at non union plants)."
Goodyear
Announces Closing of $1 Billion of Senior Notes
Goodyear intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay at maturity $515 million principal amount of its existing notes due December 1, 2006, and March 1, 2007. The company will use the remaining cash for general corporate purposes, which may include addressing the continuing strike by the United Steelworkers union. The notes were offered in a private placement under Rule 144A, have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.
Posted on Tue, Nov. 21, 2006 Goodyear
Alone At Contract Talks While Goodyear sent its negotiating team back to Cincinnati, their counterparts at the striking United Steelworkers of America stayed away since walking out of talks on Friday. ``We'll be ready to go back there when they have something new to show us,'' Steelworkers spokesman Wayne Ranick said. ``We're waiting on them.'' Goodyear said its negotiating team will remain in Cincinnati today in hopes that the Steelworkers will join them. About 15,000 Steelworkers went on strike Oct. 5 after negotiations fell through. Formal talks resumed last Tuesday. The union has decided to send out press releases focusing on Goodyear finances and aimed at company shareholders. The USW also has a new video at the Web site YouTube.com that questions the safety of Goodyear tires now being made by salaried employees and temporary workers. The 29-second video features graphic images of crashed vehicles and refers to the Firestone Wilderness AT and Ford Explorer tire recalls earlier this decade. It ends with a vehicle flipping over as the narrator asks, ``What tires do you plan to buy?'' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKGJu5eMZo
Recent Media Coverage of Good Year Strike
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