McKee is one of more than 200 workers on strike at this plant, which produces rubber hoses for the auto assembly industry. A total of 15,000 workers in Canada and the United States are on the picket lines to defend their union, the United Steelworkers (USW), against a union-busting drive by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. In Canada they include 1,000 workers at several unionized plants in Ontario and one in Alberta.

The bosses are demanding wage cuts of up to 40 percent, elimination of retiree medical benefits, and the closure of two plants in Texas and Alabama affecting thousands of workers and their families. In a number of areas the company is attempting to maintain production using management personnel, temporary workers bused in by security thugs, and some union members who have crossed the picket lines.

Strikers here said only a few trucks were hauling out finished goods. In an indication of the strike’s impact on the multimillion-dollar company, a recent statement by analysts at Deutsche Bank reported that Goodyear is “currently producing at 40 percent of their pre-strike capacity (10 percent at union plants and 100 percent at nonunion plants).”

Picket lines remain firm, but in some areas the unionists have faced cop harassment and provocations by line-crossers. Here strikers report that the company is bringing in workers from Goodyear’s nonunion plant in Valleyfield, Quebec, as well as temporary workers.

At the Toronto warehouse and retread facility, where there are 60 strikers, cops arrested a picket line captain November 22. He was released on bail after a Goodyear manager laid criminal harassment charges on him. At the plant in Tyler, Texas, USW member Kenneth Robbins was released from the hospital with a severely sprained shoulder after he was struck by the side view mirror of a scab-driven car, the union reported. The driver then threatened to run over the other pickets.

Michel Prairie and Joe Young contributed to this article.
 
 
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