From Tire Review
According to Associated Press reports, Goodyear officials said that “hundreds” of striking United Steelworkers employees have returned to their jobs at Goodyear plants. USW locals, however, dispute that assessment.
A Goodyear spokesman told the AP that production levels at the plants are increasing as strikers return to work and the company hires additional temporary workers.
Some 16,500 workers at 16 of Goodyear’s North American plants have been on strike since Oct. 5. No master contract negotiations have been held since talks broke off in mid-November.
In other strike news: USW International officials have been meeting with striking workers at Goodyear plant cities, giving them an update on the labor situation.
USW officials also said that Goodyear’s efforts to recruit workers laid off from Continental’s plant in Charlotte, NC, will fail. Goodyear has been actively recruiting experienced tire workers in that city. Continental shut down tire production at the Charlotte plant earlier this year, putting some 1,000 union workers out of a job.