Through their 86-day strike workers were able to push back some but not all of the concessions the company demanded. Goodyear is the world’s third largest tire maker. It employs 80,000 workers at 100 plants in 29 countries.

“About half of us came back to work January 2, the rest still have two weeks to report back,” said Travis Jasper, who works in the gum rubber department at the Tyler, Texas, plant. Workers there are represented by USW Local 746L.

“Inside the plant the company people said they were glad to see us back, then started in on us again about how we had to ‘pay more attention’ to the product,” Jasper said. “I think this strike was all about keeping our health benefits, not about money. We held out for that, and it was worth it.” The unionist added that during the strike only 42 workers crossed the picket line at Tyler.

“The company still hasn’t given a date when they’ll offer us the retirement buyouts, which will apply only to those who have 10-20 years,” Jasper said. “It’ll be a lot tougher on the younger ones, and those with less years in the plant.” He was referring to the fact that the new contract stipulates the closing of the Tyler factory by early next year.

On October 5, the day the walkout began, the bosses publicly announced their plans to close the Gadsden, Alabama, and Tyler plants, which they claimed were unprofitable.

In the new contract, Goodyear agreed to postpone the closure of the Tyler plant to Dec. 31, 2007, and to offer some of the workers there retirement buyouts.

The contract includes lower wages and benefits for new hires. According to the Birmingham News, the agreement “reduces labor costs through redesign of incentive systems and immediate implementation of market-based wage and benefit levels for new hires.”

The Goodyear bosses demanded steep cuts in health-care coverage for retirees, and wanted current workers to pay more and face steep reductions in the prestrike level of medical coverage for themselves and their families. The agreement stipulates the company will set up a $1 billion trust to cover current and future retired workers.

While workers received widespread solidarity on the picket lines, the company went out of its way to pressure the unionists into accepting concessions.

Goodyear put $1 billion in a war chest to cover the costs of its strikebreaking strategy, which included hiring scabs, running plants with supervisors and temporary workers, and importing additional tires to fill orders. The bosses waged a media campaign to demoralize strikers, claiming that these plants were operating at “near normal production” during the walkout. Union estimates put this figure at about 20 percent of prestrike levels.

The company and government also floated open strikebreaking moves, invoking “American patriotism.”

The December 17 Financial Times ran an article referring to the Pentagon’s “concern” for a backlog of replacement tires for its Humvee vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan. These tires are produced at the Topeka, Kansas, plant.

“According to Duncan Hunter, [former] chairman of the House of Representatives armed services committee, the strike has cut output of Humvee tires by about 35 percent,” the Times said. “Mr Hunter said the army was exploring a possible injunction under the Taft-Hartley Act to force the 200 Kansas workers back to their jobs. He proposed that they return under their current terms of employment, on the understanding that any settlement would be extended to them.”
 

A few days later, Goodyear announced its intention to close its tire production factory in Valleyfield, Quebec, by mid-2007, throwing onto the street 800 of the 1,000 workers at the plant. The remaining employees will run a materials mixing center. Workers at the Valleyfield plant are members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), and were not part of the USW strike, which affected 16 plants in North America.

As a result of the 86-day strike, the unionists beat back company demands for large wage cuts and the elimination of cost-of-living clauses, according to union officials. They said the company agreed not to lay off 300 of the 400 workers during the three-year term of the contract.

Workers who choose to resign now will receive a payment of $2,000 for every year of service, starting with a minimum of $8,000 and up to a maximum of $40,000, the officials reported. They added that the company also won a two-tier wage structure, with new hires starting at $12 an hour, and a significant number of job cuts.

Tom Hill, USW Local 818 president in Owen Sound, said that in his plant 82 percent voted to accept the deal. “Nobody crossed the line,” he stated.

In Toronto, forklift operator Mike Loftus, unit chairperson of USW Local 13571-31, told the Militant that Goodyear will close the retread plant at the small Toronto facility. The 17 workers will be able to take jobs at the company’s adjacent logistics center warehouse.

Ninety workers at the Collingwood plant will lose their jobs, reported inspector/packager Jennifer Malcolm, treasurer of USW Local 834. This will leave about 140 workers in the plant over the life of the three-year contract.

In face of the company’s attack on their jobs and wages, “there was unbelievable solidarity in the local and from other unions during the strike,” Malcolm said. She reported that in her plant an 88 percent majority voted to accept the deal.  
 
 
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