With profits soaring and top-level executives earning millions, 15,000 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.’s workers have had enough. Refusing to accept layoffs and cuts in pay and retiree benefits, on Thursday, Oct. 6, members of the United Steelworkers union went on strike at 16 Goodyear plants in the United States and Canada.
Picket lines stretched in front of Goodyear’s massive headquarters in Akron, Ohio, nicknamed “The Rubber City.”
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Goodyear, the world’s third-largest tire maker, with more than 100 plants in 29 countries, has recently seen a return to profitability following a corporate reorganization plan that included significant concessions by the workers. In 2003, the union agreed to layoffs of 6,000 workers and a plant closure, as well as cuts in pay, health care and pensions.
Today, Goodyear is making millions in profits and the company’s stock price has reached the highest level in years. Last year, CEO Robert Keegan earned a $2.6 million bonus on top of his $1.1 million salary. Four other top executives received $2.4 million in bonuses, along with six-figure salaries.
Despite the company’s prosperity, Goodyear is trying to extract more concessions from the workers. Its last contract proposal—rejected by the union—included wage cuts, a two-year pension freeze and plans to close two plants, in Gadsden, Ala., and Tyler, Texas, that employ 2,109 people.
The union’s local president in Tyler, Jim Wansley, said, “Today, Goodyear in their last offer announced they wanted to close the Tyler plant, and that was unacceptable to the steelworkers. We will not have a contract that does not have Tyler in it.” (KLTV, Oct. 5)
Many workers feel that after years of downsizing and plant closures, demanding concessions while the company thrives and executives get rich is a slap in the face.
“We gave up a lot in the last contract to be treated fairly this time,” said Barbra Kielec, a seven-year employee at the Tonawanda, N.Y., plant. “We gave up a lot and they just want to cut everything. They want to cut wages, benefits, and you just take it personal.” (AP, Oct 6)
In August, workers at Michelin, the second-largest tire maker, agreed to a contract that protected jobs and saved three plants that had been threatened with closure. The union is hoping that the Michelin contract could serve as a template for negotiations with Goodyear and Bridgestone/Firestone.
Pushing back tire companies
The last strike among tire workers, by the United Rubber Workers against Bridgestone/Firestone, occurred in 1994-95 and lasted nearly a year, in what was known as the “War of ’94.” The company had tried to lower wages and healthcare benefits, eliminate paid national holidays such as Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, and reduce worker safety protections.
Six months into the bitter strike, the company tried to permanently replace 2,300 workers with scabs, the biggest replacement in U.S. history. Six months later, the union returned to work without a contract, although the company insisted on retaining over 2,000 scabs instead of rehiring union workers.
After another year of struggle, including union-organized boycotts of Bridgestone/Firestone and its main retailer, Sears Roebuck, the company finally agreed to rehire all union workers.
Tires made during the strike by scab workers at a plant in Decatur, Ill., were part of a massive recall of 14.4 million faulty tires due to a link between the tires and 271 highway deaths and hundreds of injuries. Former employees have charged the company with lowering quality control standards during the strike, leading to manufacturing defects.
Struggles like those among workers at Goodyear and Bridgestone/Firestone make it clear that the bosses value one thing: increasing profits. This does not change if the company is making millions, cutting corners on safety precautions, or pushing more workers into poverty.
As the capitalist bosses attack workers’ wages and benefits across the United States, solidarity with the striking Goodyear workers is vital to push them back.
