Unions agree to launch nationwide protest against Goodyear

Nov. 14, 2006

The AFL-CIO will join the United Steelworkers (USW) in launching a nationwide "Day of Action" against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to protest what they say is "Goodyear's assault on the economic security and basic rights of working families and Steelworker members, as well as current and future retirees."

In a meeting in Washington, D.C., today, Nov. 14, the Federation's Executive Council voted unanimously to (word for word):

* discredit Goodyear's abandonment of American manufacturing, workers, retirees and their communities;

* join with Steelworker members on informational actions at stores selling Goodyear products;

* condemn Goodyear's assault on the health security of its workers and retirees as destructive to organized labor's ongoing efforts to win accessible and affordable health care for all; and

* encourage employers with whom affiliates have contracts, both private and public, to abandon the use of Goodyear tires as original or fleet equipment, until such time as Goodyear relents in its unconscionable demands and shameless hypocrisy and reaches a reasonable and equitable agreement with the United Steelworkers.

"Together, the Steelworkers and the AFL-CIO will make sure the tire-buying public understands the real facts about Goodyear's demands to abandon America's workers, retirees and communities," says USW President Leo Gerard.

The AFL-CIO is the nation's largest umbrella organization of unions, representing 10 million working men and women nationwide. The USW is the largest industrial union in North America, representing more than 850,000 workers in the United States and Canada. Some 70,000 are employed in the tire, rubber and plastics industry.