Consumer and AFL-CIO Union Activists to Join Striking Steelworkers to Condemn Goodyear

Protest Will Take Place at Five Goodyear Tire Stores on Saturday in PA as

On Saturday, December 16th, consumer, labor and community activists will join striking United Steelworkers (USW), Goodyear employees to protest Goodyear's assault on the living standards of its workers and abandonment of its retirees. Rallies will be held in Harrisburg, Coatesville, Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley as part of a nationwide AFL-CIO-USW Day of Action to educate the public about the company's proposal to cut jobs and drastically cut back health care coverage for Goodyear workers and retirees.

Some 15,000 experienced Goodyear workers at 16 facilities were forced out on strike Oct. 5th due to the company's demands to gut their health care, close factories and increase tires being imported from China and other low- wage countries - even after the workers took steps to help the Goodyear get through a rough time in 2003, when it was on the brink of bankruptcy. Goodyear's stock has risen to almost five times as much as it was in early 2003, and top executives have awarded themselves millions of dollars in bonuses. The company is nonetheless threatening to walk away from its health care obligations to some 30,000 retirees, offering a one-time fund that is a fraction of the company's current retiree health care liability.

"Goodyear is making itself a poster child for corporate greed by walking away from its American workforce, closing plants and trying to slash health care and retirement security obligations," said Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President William George who will help lead the rally in Harrisburg. "The Goodyear workers are holding the line to save America's middle class."

                           PENNSYLVANIA EVENTS

                                Harrisburg

                           Goodyear Tire Store
                           4305 Jonestown Road
                              Harrisburg, PA
                         Rally Start: 10:00 a.m.
                   Contact: Greg Reese, USW Local 1688
                          Phone: (717) 939-9366

                        Thorndale/Coatesville Area

                           Goodyear Tire Store
                           3151 Lincoln Highway
                              Thorndale, PA
                         Rally Start: 10:00 a.m.
                  Contact: Irvin Warner, USW Local 1165
                          Phone: (610) 384-9180

                               Philadelphia

                           Goodyear Tire Store
                           1815 W. Oregon Ave.
                             Philadelphia, PA
                         Rally Start: 10:00 a.m.
                         Contact: Gary Ward, USW
                          Phone: (610) 533-1678

                          Philadelphia/Bensalem

                           Goodyear Tire Store
                             224 E Center St.
                             Feasterville, PA
                          Rally Start: 9:00 a.m.
                   Contact: Phil Hughes, USW Local 1086
                          Phone: (215) 913-8271

                              Lehigh Valley

                           Goodyear Tire Store
                            1141 MacArthur Rd.
                              Whitehall, PA
                         Rally Start: 10:00 a.m.
                  Contact: George Bonser, USW Local 2599
                          Phone: (610) 867-3772

                   Contact: James Deegan (717)231-2867
                       Bethany Bobb (717) 231-2852