Wyatt, a tire builder at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. plant in Tyler, Texas, is editor of The Stretch, the newsletter of United Steelworkers Local 746L. The local has nearly 1,000 members at that plant.

The Steelworkers there are among the 15,000 employees of Goodyear who went on strike October 5 at 12 tire plants across the United States and four factories in Canada. The U.S. plants are located in Alabama, Kansas, Ohio, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The workers struck to oppose the company's attempt to cut wages, do away with retiree medical benefits, and impose other concessions.

"Last Thursday [October 12] we had more than a dozen unionists from other plants join our line," Wyatt said. "Every day people come by to give us support. We get donations of everything from sodas to rain ponchos."

"But the company hasn't budged at all," he said, in an indication this may be a long fight. "There has been no word from them since we went on strike."

The steelworkers ended their day-to-day extensions of a three-year contract, which expired in July, and walked out when it became evident negotiations were going nowhere.

On top of wage and benefit cuts, Goodyear, the largest U.S. tire manufacturer, is threatening to close a number of plants, including the one in Tyler.

Goodyear ranks third in tire sales worldwide, with more than 100 plants in 29 countries. After threatening bankruptcy in 2003, Goodyear won acceptance from the union for deep concessions. These included a plant closure in Alabama as well as wage, pension, and health-care cuts. Goodyear sales rebounded to record-breaking levels in 2005, at $19.5 billion.

Strikers say the company is now trying to cut wages and benefits and is planning thousands of layoffs, using the rationalization that it must offset competition from rivals abroad.

"We keep our picket line going 24-7," said Wyatt. "We are asking for solidarity. We can't let them win this."
 

At a meeting strikers held at a Goodyear plant in nearby Owen Sound, which manufactures belts, the vote was similar, workers said.

The belts and hoses produced by the workers are used primarily by the auto assembly industry.

Strikers said the bosses are demanding a $3.50 per hour wage cut, aim to reduce the starting rate to $12 an hour, and eventually bring all wages down to that level. Also on the chopping block is the cost-of-living clause and the plant-wide seniority system. The last strike at the plant here took place in 1997 and lasted three weeks.
 
 
Related articles:
On the Picket Line
Tentative accord ends five-month teachers’ strike in Mexico  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home