Goodyear pact includes no general wage increase

PITTSBURGH (Sept. 2)—Hourly workers at Goodyear's unionized plants won't receive any general wage increases for the next three years if the current tentative agreement with the company is ratified, but will see cost-of-living-allowance adjustments and a pension multiplier increase by the term's end, according to a summary of the contract. COLA adjustments remaining for 2003, however, won't be paid until April 2006, and the pension multiplier increase to $55 from $50 per month per year of service won't take effect until January 2006, the summary said. The terms of the contract also include a commitment from Goodyear to restructure debt, including raising $250 million from the sale of securities and $75 million from the sale of company stock by the end of the year. The new agreement—if ratified—will cover nearly 20,000 workers at 14 Goodyear, Kelly-Springfield and Dunlop tire and rubber sites, but the Dunlop passenger and light truck tire plant in Huntsville, Ala., will close by year's end. The master contract also would lapse July 22, 2006, creating for the first time common expiration dates for all the unionized U.S. plants, plus one Ohio warehouse and four Canadian tire facilities. Many information and ratification meetings have been scheduled at the local sites, primarily during the weeks of Sept. 2 and 9.