USWA: If ratified, Goodyear contract will be tire industry pattern agreement

PITTSBURGH (Aug. 26)—The tentative agreement reached Aug. 20 by Goodyear and the United Steelworkers will be used as the pattern for negotiations between the union and other tire makers as long as it if ratified, the USWA announced Aug. 25. The advisory committee of the USWA's Rubber/Plastics Industry Conference cited the unprecedented job security and plant protection provisions in the tentative deal as the main reasons for making it a pattern settlement, the union said. Most of the details of the Goodyear/USWA agreement haven't been made available, though the company will close its Dunlop tire plant in Huntsville, Ala., as part of the deal. The committee—composed of three local presidents from each of the Goodyear, Bridgestone/Firestone and Michelin North America Inc. chains—selected Goodyear as the industry target back in April. Talks with Michelin and BFS have been on hold pending the resolution of the Goodyear contract. USWA members at Yokohama Tire Corp. and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. plants have contracts expiring this year as well, and Continental Tire North America will have midterm reopeners with workers at three facilities. Contract summaries for unionized Goodyear employees should be available by the end of the week, and ratification votes should be taken at 14 company sites by mid-September, a USWA spokesman said.