CINCINNATI (AP) -- A union vote will likely be close on a new three-year contract with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that could require unpleasant belt-tightening measures, a United Steelworkers union official said.þþ``This is a tough contract at a tough time,'' Jim Wansley, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 746L at the Goodyear plant in Tyler, Texas, said by telephone Thursday from Cincinnati, where the tentative contract agreement was reached this week.þþ``There's absolutely no feeling on anybody's part that this is a sure thing,'' Wansley said. ``There's no feeling it will be voted down. It's probably pretty close one way or another.''þþUnion officials said Wednesday they had reached tentative agreement with Goodyear on a three-year deal, pending a ratification vote by union locals in 11 states that could take at least two weeks. The deal came after five months of negotiations. The contract would replace one that expired April 19, although it has been extended since then by agreement between the union and Goodyear.þþWayne Ranick, spokesman in Cincinnati for the union negotiators, and Goodyear spokesman Chuck Sinclair declined to discuss contract details.þþBut a union official in Huntsville, Ala., reported Thursday that under the deal, Goodyear will close its Dunlop tire plant in that city. Kevin Johnsen, a spokesman for Local 915 of the United Steelworkers of America, said the closing would affect 1,050 active workers and 350 more union members who already have been laid off.þþSinclair said he could not confirm the affect of the agreement on the Huntsville plant.þþThe rubber industry is suffering from worldwide overcapacity and weak demand. Akron-based Goodyear has talked about closing two or three U.S. plants.þþGoodyear has announced a turnaround plan that includes reducing costs by $1 billion to $1.5 billion by the end of 2005 and possibly selling some of its non-tire businesses. The producer of tires, chemicals, and automotive belts and hoses has suffered losses in seven of its last 11 quarters, including $1.3 billion in the last two years.þþThe company operates more than 90 plants in 28 countries with a total of about 92,000 employees, including 25,000 salaried personnel and the remainder in manufacturing.þþThe contract covers at least 16,000 employees at 14 plants in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Alabama, Nebraska, Wisconsin, New York, Kansas, Texas and Tennessee, plus about 22,000 retirees. Analysts had predicted that a strike could have cost Goodyear between $3 million and $4 million a day.þþGoodyear's shares rose 26 cents, or 4 percent, to close at $6.56 on the New York Stock Exchange.þþ
Source: NY Times
