Replies to post #179 on Sons and Daughters of BBCMF , Dow 30 With Point an

[mick]

so the salaried are keeping the plants going? GT

they did this at my place of work. mgmt takes mechanics
and machinist gives them mgmt jobs. they did the same
when we were on strike.

i ran the third shift by myself.

[Seminole Red]

UPDATE: Strike Hits 16 Goodyear Tire Plants
10/05 5:53 am (ON)
Story 1152 (GT)

By Jim Jelter

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. was hit by a strike Thursday after four months of tough negotiations failed to produce a new contract with its United Steelworkers employees.

The strike, which took effect at 1 p.m. Eastern, involves about 15,000 union members at 12 plants in the United States and four plants in Canada.

Goodyear (GT) shares fell as low as $13.61 on the news, recovering to $14.24, a 0.4% decline, at the close.

"We remain willing to continue to bargain with the Steelworkers," said Jim Allen, Goodyear's chief negotiator, in a statement. "In the meantime, we have implemented our strike-contingency plans at the affected facilities and are working to minimize impact on our customers."

Allen said that the company rejected the union's wage and benefit demands on the grounds that they would have put Goodyear at a disadvantage to its overseas competitors.




The talks stranded, among other things, over Goodyear's plans to shut two of its U.S. production facilities and trim retiree health benefits.

"The company left us with no option," said USW executive vice president Ron Hoover in a statement. "We cannot allow additional plant closures after the sacrifices we made three years ago to help this company survive."

Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy downgraded the company to sell from neutral just prior to the strike announcement, citing the strong likelihood that a labor conflict could not be avoided.

"Although we do not know how long the union will strike, given the magnitude of the daily losses we believe almost any amount of time will be detrimental for Goodyear's profitability," he said.

Murphy also expressed concern that Goodyear's valuation had "stretched" too far after recent share-price gains put it at the high end of its historical range.

While Goodyear shares are down nearly 18% for the year, they have rebounded 21% over just the past two months.

Akron, Ohio-based Goodyear ranks third behind Bridgestone and Michelin in terms of sales among the world's top tiremakers.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10 -05 -06 1753ET