The new tentative agreement between Goodyear and the United Steelworkers includes cost-of-living raises and pension increases, as well as minimum staffing levels at six of seven U.S. plants.
The 10,300 USW members who work for the Akron-based tiremaker got a first look this week at terms of the four-year deal that negotiators reached Aug. 29. USW locals will hold informational meetings and then ratification votes. The referendum vote is slated to be completed by Sept. 18.
The previous three-year contract was originally set to expire on July 18. Goodyear and the union agreed to two extensions during negotiations.
According to a summary of the agreement that members received Tuesday, the plant that builds racing tires in Akron is one of six protected from closing during the life of the contract. The others are in Gadsden, Ala.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Topeka, Kan.; Danville, Va.; and Fayetteville, N.C. A seventh factory, in Unionville, Tenn., may achieve such a guarantee through separate negotiations, a USW official said.
The union’s priorities were to protect plants and jobs ”while maintaining good, affordable health care in a difficult economic climate,” Tom Conway, USW International vice president, said in a prepared statement. ”This contract achieved these goals in addition to making some other needed improvements such as securing resources the union can defer to assist our retirees.”
The contract summary explains that Goodyear, pressured by falling auto sales as well as by inexpensive Chinese tires flooding the American replacement-tire market, can offer as many as 600 buyouts to senior union workers. In particular, 200 of those buyout offers could materialize at the company’s Buffalo plant, which makes truck tires.
Goodyear also can offer "400 additional buyouts that may be used at the other protected plants," the summary says, providing the company the opportunity to reduce its work force in a way acceptable to the union if tire sales continue to decline. In addition, about 120 workers out of 440 at the Akron factory where NASCAR race tires are made have agreed to take a previously negotiated buyout.
The agreement states that minimum staffing levels will be maintained and no shift in production from the six protected plants may be made to any non-USW represented production facility. In addition, the cost-of-living provision in the previous contract continues for all employees.
Workers hired before 2006, who are paid more and receive better benefits, will see little further gain if members ratify the new contract. Employees hired since the 2006 contract took effect will enjoy a few improvements in wages and benefits.
Union workers hired after Oct. 1, 2006, will also get two 50-cent an hour wage increases. The new hires also will get additional vacation time and be eligible for accident and sickness benefits, vision care and better life insurance, the USW said.
Senior employees who retire under the agreement, if ratified, will get pension increases if they retire on or after Jan. 1, 2010. The union gave an example of a worker hired in 1979 who retires at the end of 2012 would get a $189 monthly increase to $1,929.
Workers hired after Dec. 22, 2006, who are covered under the pension plan also get improved pension benefits and will be eligible for a 50% match on the first 4% of their contributions to the 401(k) plan.
