For 12 weeks, 15,000 workers employed at 16 Goodyear plants in the US and Canada crippled one of the worlds largest tire manufacturers. While the strike showcased the power these workers had over a key section of the auto industry, the loss of 1,100 jobs in the final agreement shows the need for unions to adopt new fighting policies.
Workers represented by the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) walked off the job on October 5, in response to proposals by Goodyear to dump retiree health benefits and to close a plant in Tyler, Texas. These proposed attacks follow a pattern of attacks on jobs and benefits in other parts of the auto industry.
The strike at Goodyear shows the potential for a major fight back against these attacks if the unions provide a fighting lead. Clearly demonstrated in the Goodyear strike was a burning desire amongst workers in the U.S. to take decisive action against outsourcing, concessions, worsening working conditions, and cuts in pay and benefits.
As Leo Gerard, Steelworkers International president explained to the Ohio based Akron Beacon Journal, “There’s a deep, deep, deep sense of betrayal amongst our members. I think there’s a public sense of betrayal in the communities where our members work and live with their families.”
The Goodyear strikers got a lot of support. Goodyear workers in Canada, who are represented under a separate agreement, walked out in solidarity. Then on December 16, protests were organized at over 150 Goodyear stores across the country. Nevertheless, the union only scratched the surface of the support it could have won with a bolder appeal for support.
The company attempted to ride out the strike, turning their back on negotiations early on. In November, the company was forced to take out a credit line of $1 billion a sum that could have been spent on covering workers health benefits rather than strikebreaking. But the workers made their power felt, eventually forcing the company back to the negotiating table.
Estimates made at J.P. Morgan had the company operating at 10% of its pre-strike capacity and eventually the company admitted it was losing more than $35 million a week. One result of the strike was a 35% drop in the supply of U.S. army Humvee tires, provoking the army to announce intentions to seek out the use of anti-union laws to break the strike.
The final agreement had some positives, but mainly squandered the power established on the picket line. The company was forced to give ground on health care. They agreed to pay $1 billion in cash and shares into a union controlled trust that would fund health coverage for retirees. However this does not cover the full $1.2 billion needed to safeguard the benefits.
The agreement failed to defend the 1,100 jobs in Tyler, TX, though the closure of the plant will be put off for another year. After these jobs are lost, they are gone for good and that hurts workers everywhere. It also established a new two-tier contract that will slash wages and benefits for new hires.
Despite the heroic struggle of the strikers, the union leadership failed to pose a solution for the industry. They should have mobilized the unions members to reach out into the local communities and to other workers in the auto industry.
They should have demanded the company open all its financial records to the public if it continues to demand concessions. Plants that cannot be kept open should be taken under public ownership and run by the workers, and if necessary, retooled to produce things that are useful for our communities.
The unions cannot accept any loss of living wage jobs. What is needed is fighting policies that mobilize the power of the workers to say no to any more concessions and cuts backs.