29 August, 2005
Global Solidarity
A newsletter for unionised Goodyear workers world-wide
Global Network Links Workers across Borders
When more than 100 labor leaders and trade union representatives from 16 countries gathered in Cleveland, Ohio in March 1999, they decided to form a global network for Goodyear workers around the world. The goal was to open lines of communication worldwide and to share information of mutual interest.
Publishing Global Solidarity is one facet in the creation of a network that builds international worker solidarity within a multinational corporation. With the continuing consolidation of the world tire industry, workers need a united global front to address common problems.
The Cleveland conference and the establishment of a global network was a direct result of an agenda established during an ICEM rubber industry conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in June 1998.
The delegates at the Cleveland conference elected a network steering committee comprised of Richard Davis (United Steelworkers of America), chairman; Yoshihiko Sawada (Gomo Rengo, Japan); Bill Holmes (Manufacturing Science & Finance, U.K.); Carlos Antonio da Silva (Frente Unica de Borracha, Brazil); Thabang Nchele (National Union of Metalworkers, South Africa); and Peter Schmitt, (ICEM).
The Steering Committee met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 25, 2000 to set the network’s direction. Among other things, the network held an initial meeting with senior Goodyear executives and proposed that a joint agreement on health and safety be negotiated.
U.S. Steelworkers Win Contract Improvements
On November 15, 2000, the Goodyear/Kelly Springfield/Dunlop Policy Committee of the United Steelworkers of America announced member ratification of changes to the Master Contract. The contract improvements are consistent with the industry pattern agreement established in the 2000 Bridgestone negotiations.
Union workers at Goodyear and subsidiary plants in the U.S. will receive wage, cost-of-living and pension increases as well as language improvements in several areas, including preferential hiring and outside contracting. The agreement covers 12,000 employees at nine Goodyear locations, 5,700 workers at three Kelly plants and 2,600 workers at two Dunlop facilities.
Negotiations between Goodyear and the Steelworkers began in March. Re-opener discussions were suspended March 10, about a month after the Steelworkers chose Bridgestone as its target company for pattern bargaining. When negotiations between Bridgestone/Firestone and the union concluded successfully in September, talks between the Steelworkers and Goodyear resumed.
Asia/Pacific Unions Hold Regional Conference
The ICEM hosted the Asia/Pacific Goodyear Network Workshop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 25-26, 2000. The workshop resulted from actions taken at the ICEM World Rubber Conference of June 1998 and the ICEM-USWA Goodyear World Conference of March 1999, which directed Goodyear steering committees in all regions to conduct sessions.
Yoshihiko Sawada, president of the Japanese Rubber Workers Union Confederation (Gomu Rengo, Japan) chaired the workshop that included 18 participants from five countries. Participants also came from SP KEP Goodyear Union, Indonesia; National Union of Workers, Australia; National Union of Employees in Companies Manufacturing Rubber Products, Malaysia; Centre of Indian Trade Unions; as well as ICEM-JAF and the ICEM.
In addition to developing ways to network and communicate better, work groups discussed issues such as industrial health and safety, occupational diseases, and training and education programs.
Goodyear Pushes to Bust Union in Colombia
Despite extensive efforts over the past months to work with the company to reduce production costs at the Santiago de Cali plant, Goodyear management in Colombia is engaged in a blatant effort to undermine its collective bargaining relationship with the tire workers union SINTRAINCAPLA.
The company unilaterally violated the union contract by hiring temporary workers in the production and maintenance departments. The collective bargaining agreement explicitly prohibits the use of temporary or contract workers unless the company and union agree.
Workers at the plant have already accepted a number of concessions pursuant to collective bargaining negotiations with management aimed at saving jobs and keeping the plant open.
Canadian Workers Reject Company Proposal
Members of a Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Quebec union, already on strike for six months, rejected a five-year contract proposal from Goodyear on November 15. Wage and job security issues were the reasons that members of Steelworker Local 919 overwhelmingly rejected the offer. The 76-member local, mainly office and technical workers at Goodyear’s Valleyfield passenger radial facility, have been on strike since April 27, 2000.
Local members have been working without a contract since July 1996. The union and the company have fought within Quebec’s labor department over alleged exclusion of certain jobs from unionization. Initially the local was prevented by provincial law from striking, but regained that right earlier this year.
The exclusion of jobs from bargaining units has continued to be an issue during the negotiations. Management’s desire to turn union into non-union work, continued layoffs of Local 919 members, and increased use of subcontracting has reduced union employment by about 40% over the past decade. The Communications, Energy & Paperwork Union represent production and maintenance workers at the plant.
Indonesian Union Makes Proposal to Company
In November, the SP.KEP Goodyear Indonesia (Chemical, Energy and Mine Workers Union at Goodyear Indonesia)
initiated negotiations with PT. Goodyear Indonesia Tbk. The union is looking to improve wages, working condition and safety for its members.
Goodyear Reneges on UK Union Agreement
The company has mounted a major attack on two ICEM-affiliated unions in the United Kingdom. The Transport and General Workers Union and the MSF are battling to protect its members’ terms and conditions of employment as well as their ability to effectively represent membership.
Goodyear has already announced layoffs (redundancies) of 540 workers at its Wolverhampton facility. More troubling is the way the company is handling the matter. In addition to the redundancy notice, the company has delivered 90 days notice that it is unilaterally canceling the long established employment security and severance payment agreement.
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs and Goodyear Network chairman Dick Davis have urged the company to honor its commitments.
The agreement, first signed in 1985, was revised and renegotiated as recently as October 1999. In September 2000, a Goodyear senior vice president promised the workers at Wolverhampton that the company would honor all existing agreements, including the Security of Employment Agreement.
Operating Engineers Ratify Contract
Striking workers at Goodyear’s chemical plant in Houston, Texas overwhelmingly ratified a new contract in mid-December. The new agreement provides pension improvements and a first-year lump sum wage increase.
Union solidarity was key in fighting Goodyear’s demand for concessions on seniority rights, contracting out, health benefit cuts and wage reductions. Members of Local 347 of the International Union of Operating Engineers walked out on October 10 after rejecting the company’s proposed new agreement.
International unions representing Goodyear workers in France, Germany, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Australia and the U.S. registered protests with the company and lent support to Local 347.
In early November, the workers rejected by a 2-to-1 margin another company offer that called for contracting out 139 jobs or across-the-board pay cuts. Wages would have automatically been cut by 33%, health care cost would have increased and a number of jobs would have been phased out over a two-year period.
The settlement covers 350 workers at a plant that manufactures emulsion styrene butadiene rubber, a material used in tire production.
Anti-Union Tactics in Guatemala
The ICEM reported last year that Goodyear has targeted workers in Guatemala with anti-union practices. Forty-eight production employees, members of STGINSA, at the Guatemala City plant were fired without just cause and two executive committee members of the union were suspended.
The union said the action breaches the collective bargaining agreement, the labor laws of the country and the international labor conventions ratified by the government of Guatemala. Ron Hoover, USWA Goodyear Coordinator in the U.S. urged the company to “take the necessary steps to restore the proper integrity to the collective bargaining process (in Guatemala) and protect the company’s “Good Name.”
European Unions Stand Up for Goodyear Workers
The IGBCE of Germany and the FCE-CFDT of France have recently written support letters on behalf of Goodyear workers in Wolverhampton, UK, Houston, U.S. and Colombia, South America. The letters were written to Goodyear Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Samir Gibara.
Both letters proclaimed support for the Houston workers’ fight for a new contract and condemned Goodyear’s management for undermining negotiations in Colombia, as well as terminating a job security agreement in the U.K.
IGBCE president Hubertus Schmoldt also cited serious problems with Goodyear at its Philippsburg, Germany factory. Schmoldt criticized the company for trying to wreck the collective agreement and for not reinvesting in the facility.
Both unions appealed to the company to take a civilized approach of discussing and negotiating changes with both the workers and their unions.
ICEM & FUTINAL Host International Conference
Leaders of 25 unions from Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru Chile and Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and the United States, gathered in Praia Grande, Brazil in November 2000 to participate in a conference hosted by the ICEM and the Latin American United Tire and Rubber Industry Workers Front (FUTINAL).
The tire and rubber worker trade unionists examined trends in the world industry as well as national, regional and global concerns. Measures were adopted that will improve the exchange of information between workers of different global tire companies that operate in the region.
Several motions were passed that extended solidarity to Goodyear workers in the region. Members Guatemalan Goodyear union STGINSA received a pledge of support from the conference in their battle against the company’s anti-union practices.
A resolution condemning Goodyear’s union busting attempts in Colombia was passed, as was a motion directed to the Colombian government that denounced death threats by right wing groups to labor leaders.
A motion to offer international solidarity to the Titan Tire workers in Uruguay, members of FUNSA, also passed. This action denounced the recent agreement between Titan and Goodyear that reduces tire production in Uruguay and promotes the imports of Goodyear products.
In an act designed to strengthen the links between workers across borders, it was decided that an international delegation of rubber workers would visit in early 2001 all the countries of the Americas affiliated with FUTINAL. Next year’s conference will be held in Argentina.
Goodyear-Pacific Dunlop Announces Restructuring
South Pacific Tyres Ltd. is cutting production at one site and laying off workers at another in Australia. The joint venture of Goodyear and Pacific Dunlop looks to reduce costs and reverse company losses within six months.
Heavy truck production will be halted at the Somerton plant and passenger and light tire production will be reorganized. The company also plans to lay off 500 workers at its Melbourne plant and reduce the product line at that facility.
The National Union of Workers represents workers at these plants.
Aircraft Tire Production Resumes in Brazil
After a seven-year hiatus, Goodyear has resumed production of aircraft tires at its Sao Paulo, Brazil facility to meet increased demand. The company manufactured aviation tires at the plant from 1943 until 1992, when it suspended production.
About 30 percent of the tire output will be for the Brazilian market while the rest will be exported to North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and other Latin American countries.
Brazilian airplane manufacturer Embraer-Empresa Brasiliera de Aeronautica, the world’s fourth largest producer of airliners and a Goodyear customer since 1969, is building a new domestic plant that the company will supply.
Global Goodyear
Goodyear is the world’s largest tire company. In addition, it manufactures and markets worldwide several lines of belts, hoses and other rubber products for the transportation industry, as well as various industrial and consumer products.
Goodyear operates 92 plants in 27 countries around the world. Thirty-two plants are located in the US, eight in Canada, 20 in Europe, two in Africa, 13 in Latin America and 17 in Asia. With the addition of its Dunlop tire joint ventures, Goodyear employs more than 100,000.
Last year, Goodyear posted net sales of $12.9 billion and net income was $241.1 million. For the nine months ending September 2000, net sales increased 12%.
Goodyear is the No. 1 tire maker in North America and South America and the largest in Europe. Chairman and CEO, Samir Gibara, earned $1.6 million USD in salary last year and exercised options worth another $216,000 USD during that time.
Send Your News!
Global Solidarity is published by the United Steelworkers of America, Five Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, PA. 15222, USA.
If you have news and information for the next issue of Solidarity News, please send it to Don Faulkner by:
Fax + 1 412 562 2520 or
E-mail mailto:[email protected]