CLEVELAND (AP) -- Some of the 14,000 striking Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. workers began voting Wednesday on a proposed labor deal reached with the world's third-largest tiremaker while others studied the pact and prepared to vote Thursday.þþLarry Watchorn, 49, a 22-year Goodyear employee who voted on the deal in Lincoln, Neb., said he believes the agreement will pass.þþ''People want to get back to work. It'll be the best deal they can get,'' Watchorn said.þþGoodyear has said it will only discuss details of the tentative deal if it is ratified.þþHowever, the plan would allow the tiremaker to to close a plant in Tyler, Texas, but not immediately. It provides for a one-year transition period in which the workers will have the opportunity to take advantage of retirement buyouts. The plant employs 1,100 workers who make unprofitable wholesale private label tires.þþUnited Steelworkers union members in 10 states, including about 1,400 laid off and inactive workers, were scheduled to vote by Thursday on the three-year agreement reached last week.þþWorkers at four Goodyear plants in Ontario, Canada, where about 400 union members have been on strike, do not have a tentative agreement but will vote anyway on a separate company proposal, a Goodyear spokesman said.þþOne key issue during the nearly 3-month-old strike had been over a company proposed health care fund for retirees.þþGoodyear ultimately agreed to put $1 billion into the fund for retired union workers' medical benefits, which was higher than the company's previous $660 million offer but less than the union's call for roughly double that amount.þþGoodyear spokesman Ed Markey said he had no specifics on the Steelworkers' vote. Goodyear has said it will will hold a conference call in January for investors, financial analysts and media to discuss specifics of the new contract if it is ratified by the USW membership.þþThe company has said the tentative pact would help the Akron-based company significantly reduce its costs and allow it to be more globally competitive.þþJack Hefner, president of USW Local 2L in Akron, which represents 470 workers at a racing tire plant and a rubber mixing factory, said the local's leadership is not recommending which way to vote.þþOne worry among workers is the retiree health fund, he said.þþ''The concern is that unless additional money is put into it that eventually that money is going to run out. A $1 billion fund is a lot of money, but today's medical costs can eat that up pretty quick,'' Hefner said.þþIn Lincoln, Nebraska, USW Local 286L officials said Goodyear wants to use buyouts to reduce the 1,050 active or laid off work force there that makes hoses and belts to about 220. That had some younger workers uncertain.þþBecky Ellis, 38, a 14-year Goodyear employee, said she had to think about the deal for a while before casting her ballot at the union hall.þþ''It's better for the older people and retirees,'' she said, adding that she did not get a guarantee from union officers that her plant would not be closed in the future. ''I don't know what I'll do.''þþIn Ohio, Hefner said some members were spending Wednesday studying the proposed agreement. Hundreds came to receive information, and local officers were attempting to answer questions ahead of the vote, scheduled to begin 9 a.m. Thursday.þþUSW headquarters spokesman Wayne Ranick said details about vote totals likely would be released Thursday night.þþThe strike began Oct. 5. Goodyear and the union reached the deal after both sides resumed talks in Pittsburgh about two weeks ago.þþGoodyear has about 80,000 employees and makes tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in 29 countries.þþShares rose 10 cents to close at $20.22 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares hit a new year high the day before at $20.38. The 52-week low was $9.75.þ
Source: NY Times
