Workers At Lincoln Plant Join National Strike Against Goodyear

A strike against Goodyear Tire & Rubber sent 560 workers at the Lincoln plant home Thursday, joining fellow union employees at 15 plants in nine other states and Canada.

“It’s very hard to go in there and tell people to come out,” union vice president Gary Schaefer told the Lincoln Journal-Star

Lincoln workers at the company belt plant are represented by Local 286 of the United Steel Workers of America.

Officials for Akron-based, multinational Goodyear said the company would keep its plants open and fill customer orders. Goodyear has 100 plants in 20 countries.

The Dow Jones news service reported a company spokesman in Akron said Goodyear would meet production goals, using plants that are not affected by strike, salaried employees, imported products and company inventories.

National union officials said Goodyear, the world’s No. 3 seller of tires with $19.5 billion in 2005 sales, wanted to close plants in Tyler, Texas and Gadsden Alabama. The closing of an American plant would save the company an estimated $50 million annually. Pension and health benefits for current and retired employees were also at issue.

Goodyear previously said it needed a “competitive” contract, complaining of high costs for materials, low-cost products from foreign companies and decreased motor vehicle production. It wants to reduce overall costs by $1 billion within two years.

The union struck for three weeks in 1997 and for 124 days in 1976.

Goodyear operates some 100 plants in 20 countries.

In Akron, the company made a somewhat ambiguous statement, saying it offered a plan “to secure retiree medical benefits and provide job security and investment guarantees for USW plants.” Goodyear wouldn’t comment on any proposed plant closings.

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