News From USW: USW’s Leo Gerard to Appear on Lou Dobbs Tonight

PITTSBURGH--News From USW: United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard will appear as a guest this evening on the CNN program, Lou Dobbs Tonight, televised at 6-7 p.m. EST.

Gerard will discuss Goodyear’s plan to close U.S. tire-making plants and move production to China. Some 15,000 workers at plants in the U.S. and Canada went on strike Oct. 5, following months of contract talks where Goodyear kept demanding concessions that threaten employees’ jobs and retirement security.

Gerard will tell how Goodyear has invested $150 million in outsourcing over the last three years with $18 million invested in its plant in Dalian China during the last year alone.

“Goodyear is increasing its imports from China ten-fold,” Gerard said. “And it’s already importing millions of tires from countries where workers are oppressed.”

Three years ago when Goodyear was facing financial insolvency, the union agreed to a series of concessions, including a plant closing at Huntsville, Ala.

“The workers are responsible for getting the company back on its feet,” he said. “Last year they made a profit of $489 million. How do they want to thank us? More concessions and more plant closings.”

Goodyear also wants to dump its billion-dollar retiree health insurance obligations on the union for roughly 50 cents on the dollar. “Here’s a company that claims to be a loyal American company but it wants to turn its back on its retirees,” Gerard said. “That’s immoral. Our members are saying enough is enough.”

“We can’t continue to sacrifice the living standards of American workers and retirees so companies like Goodyear can make a killing for the financiers on Wall Street,” he said. “That’s why we’re mounting a nationwide campaign to condemn Goodyear’s use of replacement workers and its shameless off-shoring of American production to dirt cheap offshore labor.”