Tentative Pact Reached in Goodyear Strike

AKRON, Ohio — Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the United Steelworkers union have reached a tentative agreement to end a two-week strike, but workers will remain on the picket lines until the deal is ratified.

Union spokesman Curt Brown said Sunday that members will vote Thursday on the six-year agreement reached Saturday night. It would be the first long-term contract in the industry’s history.

The strike idling 12,000 workers in seven states began April 20 after negotiations between North America’s largest tire maker and United Steelworkers of America stalled hours before the previous three-year agreement expired.

It was the first strike against Akron-based Goodyear since 1976.

The company said the length of the proposed new contract provides Goodyear with stability. The union said the pact offers better wages and benefits and addresses crucial issues such as job security. But neither side on Sunday would release details.

The average production worker earns $18 an hour, or $37,440 a year, based on a 40-hour workweek.

Workers had been concerned about losing jobs. Goodyear recently announced it would move production of some race tires from Akron to Santiago, Chile, resulting in the loss of about 150 jobs.

Goodyear has said it must lower labor costs to remain competitive.

The workers went on strike at Goodyear plants in Akron, St. Marys and Marysville, Ohio; Gadsden, Ala.; Union City, Tenn.; Danville, Va.; Sun Prairie, Wis.; Lincoln, Neb.; and Topeka, Kan. Goodyear has 20,000 union employees and a total of about 90,000 workers worldwide.

Negotiators had met daily since the day after the strike began. Goodyear has maintained production during the strike but has given no details.

Goodyear previously bargained with United Rubber Workers International, which merged with the Pittsburgh-based Steelworkers in 1995.

The union has targeted Goodyear and its Kelly-Springfield Tire & Rubber Co. as a basis of this year’s negotiations with all its tire and rubber industry labor contracts.

An additional 8,000 workers at eight other Goodyear locations are working under different contracts. Those include about 5,000 union workers at Kelly-Springfield plants in Freeport, Ill.; Tyler, Texas; and Fayetteville, N.C.

About 2,000 workers at Fayetteville are also on strike. Analysts say a settlement of the larger strike would affect negotiations there. Talks between Steelworkers Local 959 and Kelly-Springfield were to resume today.