CINCINNATI (Aug. 13, 2009) - Goodyear and the United Steelworkers have agreed to a second extension of their labor agreement, this time until Aug. 29.
Negotiators for the two sides, who have been holding bargaining sessions in Cincinnati since early June, previously extended the deadline until Aug. 15. The original three-year master contract, covering 11,500 workers, expired July 18.
Jim Allen, chief negotiator for the Akron-based tire maker, said progress has been made on some of the significant issues, but additional time was necessary to work through the remaining areas. The two sides have made "sufficient movement" over the past two weeks to justify the new extension, the USW said.
Michelin, which also extended its contract with the Steelworkers to Aug. 15, is in talks with the union in Lexington, Ky. A company spokeswoman couldn´t say whether there would be an extension or if the two sides were close to settling, but did confirm they were in daily negotiations working toward an agreement.
The Michelin/USW pact covers about 3,200 workers at the company´s three U.S. BFGoodrich tire unit plants. The Opelika, Ala., facility is scheduled to close this fall.
Steelworkers manning Bridgestone Americas Inc.´s organized U.S. plants are working on a day-to-day extension. The contract between the union and company covers about 4,500 employees.