Goodyear: Analyst says contract crucial to cost-cutting

Steelworkers at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.'s Topeka plant have voted overwhelmingly to support a new, three-year contract, according to results released Tuesday evening.

The proposed agreement was approved by 75 percent of those voting Monday and Tuesday, said Robert Tripp, vice president of United Steelworkers of America Local 307. The union wouldn't release the number of members who voted --- 1,500 of the 1,700 local Goodyear workers are union members --- but Tripp said turnout was good.

"Our membership is ready to get to the business of ensuring their job security that comes along with having a viable employer that has some financial stability," he said. "We're hopeful that we can get passage at the master level because apparently that's what our membership wants."

Final ratification of the proposed contract requires a majority of the 14 affected plants, which has been achieved, and a majority of the union members at those plants. Wayne Ranick, a spokesman for the union in Cincinnati, said the last plant will vote Friday in Danville, Va., and the final results will be announced Monday.

"I think a lot of people are a little bit relieved," said William Renner, a 27-year Goodyear employee in Topeka.

Renner said maintaining jobs and keeping the local plant open are important. He also has a son working there. He recalled spending three months on strike during contract negotiations in 1976 and said he has hoped to avoid a strike this year as negotiations continued over five months.

Goodyear has lost $1.3 billion in the past two years, and the company has said it wants to trim as much as $1.5 billion in costs by 2005 to shore up its North American tire operations.

Saul Ludwig, managing director at McDonald Investments in Cleveland who has followed Goodyear for the past 30 years, said the proposed contract is an important part of Goodyear's cost-cutting.

"Getting back to a sound financial footing is a multidisciplined process that requires cooperation throughout all levels of the company, and that's what the new contract is designed to do," Ludwig said.

Sacrifices are being asked of both union and salaried staff members, he said.

Last month, Goodyear announced it would cut 500 salaried positions at its North American tire plants. Management at the Topeka plant said no cuts were expected locally.

Ludwig said the Topeka plant was among those protected in the tentative contract, which means it couldn't be closed for the duration of the three-year deal."I think it shows that that's a plant that's important to Goodyear," Ludwig said.

As of Tuesday evening, 12 of the 14 affected plants had voted on the proposal. Of those, 11 had ratified the contract and one, in Union City, Tenn., had rejected it.

Amy Bauer can be reached at [email protected] or (785) 295- 1231.

ONLINE

Listen to a Goodyear official and an analyst discuss the company and find story archives about contract negotiations.

www.cjonline.com

To view union vote percentages, go to:

www.local307.com

www.goodyear.com

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