News From USW: Consumer Safety Alert: Will Goodyear Tires Be Safe For Your Family? Untrained Temp Workers More Likely to Produce Defective Tires

PITTSBURGH--News From USW: Will defective tires find their way to the Goodyear stores? That’s a question to ask your tire salesman. Some 15,000 experienced workers at Goodyear have been forced out on strike due to the company’s demands to gut their healthcare, close factories and import tires from China and other low-wage countries.

For now, Goodyear is using replacement workers to make tires to sell here in America. A Princeton University study has linked labor strife, including the use of replacement workers, with the production of defective tires. The study examines the causes of the Firestone and Ford recall of 14.4 million tires in 2000. You may remember the rollover accidents that caused so many deaths and horrific injuries on our nation’s highways. These tires were linked by the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration to complaints involving 271 fatalities and more than 800 injuries.

Beginning Saturday, Nov. 18, the United Steelworkers (USW) and supporters are kicking off an international effort to educate the public about the ongoing labor dispute at 15 North American Goodyear plants. The outreach will include demonstrations at area tire stores.

The Goodyear tire plant workers were forced out on strike October 5 over unfair demands by management. USW members and community supporters plan to inform thousands of customers at tire stores this weekend with a handbill about tire safety problems at plants that employ replacement workers during labor disputes. (See handbill to be used Saturday at http://www.usw.org/usw/program/adminlinks/docs//sp-goodyear-handbill -bug.pdf ) (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field.  Remove the extra space if one exists.)

The Steelworkers international campaign this weekend involves mobilization efforts in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Vancouver, BC, Buffalo, NY, Montreal, Que., Hamilton, Ont., Chicago, Richmond, Va., Nashville, Tenn., Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Mo., Phoenix, Beaumont, Texas and other cities. The union vows to ramp up its public campaign for a fair union contract at Goodyear throughout the holiday season and as long as it takes to gain justice.