Public pressure pushes Goodyear to
settle pact with striking Steelworkers
Local 516 charter
member George
Pavlich awarded
70-year card
The last surviving founding
member of Iron Workers Shop-
men’s Local 516 was honored at
the union’s monthly meeting
Dec. 16 with a 70-year pin and
gold watch.
George Pavlich, 93, joined
the union on April 30, 1937,
working for M. Reuter & Sons.
Following a stint in the Mer-
chant Marine during World War
II, Pavlich returned to Portland
where he worked for Reuter &
Sons until 1972. He also worked
short stints at Steel Fab and
Hederal before retiring in 1979.
He and his wife, Elenore, married in 1943. They have been together ever
since. She couldn’t attend the union presentation because she was home
babysitting great grandchildren.
“I’m glad I joined the union,” he told about 60 members who attended
the meeting. “It’s been good to me.”
Bus operators to take
strike vote in Corvallis
CORVALLIS — City transit and
school bus drivers in Corvallis are ex-
pected to vote Jan. 16 to reject a con-
tract offer and authorize a strike.
The City of Corvallis contracts
management of its bus system to Laid-
law, and so does Corvallis School Dis-
trict. Laidlaw has a rocky history of re-
lations with its unions, including Port-
land-based Amalgamated Transit
Union Local 757.
In Corvallis, trouble began in 1996
with Local 757’s original organizing
campaign, when Laidlaw fought to
have city and school bus drivers to-
gether in the same bargaining unit,
hoping to defeat the union drive. There
are about a dozen drivers for the 11-
route Corvallis Transit System, and
about 50 school bus operators. The
union agreed to combine the two, and
won a 1997 union election.
Faced with a brick-wall negotiating
stance, the union fought for and passed
a 1999 local ballot measure that set
city bus drivers’ wages at the average
for the region. Wages jumped about $6
an hour to between $12 and $14 an
hour. Since then, Laidlaw has said it
won’t pay any more than the ballot
measure requires, says Ron Heintz-
man, the ATU international representa-
tive assigned to bargain for the group.
But that’s not what it means to bar-
gain, Heintzman says.
“To be locked into third-party con-
tract terms for over six years, with no
opportunity to have any voice in
changing those terms, was in our view
not intended nor acceptable any
longer,” Heintzman wrote in an e-mail
explaining the union’s position to Cor-
vallis city manager Jon Nelson.
Meanwhile, for the school bus driv-
ers, Heintzman said it took six years
for the company to agree to replace
previous pay levels with a five-year,
five-step wage schedule, and now the
company is proposing to scrap that.
The union is recommending a “no”
vote on the offer and a “yes” vote to
authorize a strike.
Zachary
Zabinsky
PITTSBURGH (PAI) — Public
pressure and protests from coast-to-
coast — including leaflets, picket
signs and marches — forced
Goodyear Tire Co., back to the bar-
gaining table in mid-December and
produced a new three-year contract on
Dec. 22, the United Steelworkers an-
nounced.
USW members ratified the pact by
a more than 2-to-1 margin on Dec. 28,
among more than 10,000 members
voting. It won majorities at all 12
Goodyear locals.
The pact ended a strike that began
in early October. But the pressure that
pushed Goodyear back to bargaining
came when the Steelworkers mar-
shaled tens of thousands of unionists
and their supporters for Dec. 16
demonstrations at 168 retail tire outlets
nationwide (including Oregon and
Washington), letting consumers know
how the firm was trying to mistreat
both its workers and retirees.
Goodyear’s key demands were that
the now-profitable tire firm close its
Tyler, Texas, plant — putting 1,100
union members out of work — and
shift production to China; and elimi-
nate health insurance for retirees and
their families. It backed down on both.
“We owe gratitude to the labor and
activist communities, which rose with
unprecedented solidarity to challenge
Goodyear’s assault,” said Steelworkers
President Leo Gerard.
Gerard said Goodyear’s initial de-
the union said.
And even though the plant will
eventually close, tires now made there
will have to be produced at Steel-
worker-represented plants in the U.S.,”
Conway said. “The company simply
won’t be able to outsource that work
or service this market segment with
imports from China or anywhere other
than a Steelworker facility.”
mands “were at the heart of what’s
wrong with America today: Global
corporations running away” from the
U.S. and from their commitments to
workers and the middle class.
Union members were particularly
miffed because several years ago they
helped Goodyear get through some fi-
nancial hardships by agreeing to wage
and benefit freezes.
Goodyear returned to profitability
soon after that, but they “walked away
from their promises” when that con-
tract expired, the Steelworkers said.
National AFL-CIO President John
Sweeney said the national solidarity
let Goodyear — and other companies
— know that for U.S. workers
“enough is enough” in terms of “ex-
porting good-paying jobs to countries
whose lack of labor law enforcement
is more disgraceful than our own.”
According to the Steelworkers, the
new contract:
• Sets up a company-financed trust
of more than $1 billion that will go to
secure medical and prescription drug
benefits for current and future retirees.
• Commits Goodyear to tripling
capital invested in union-represented
plants to at least $550 million, to
“meet the challenges of global compe-
tition.”
• Puts off the closure of the Tyler
plant until the end of 2007. Instead,
there will be a one-year transition pe-
riod to give Tyler’s workers the chance
to take “sizable retirement buyouts,”
L EGAL P ROBLEMS ??
For $16 a month
coverage includes:
❖ Unlimited toll-free phone
consultation with attorneys.
❖ A comprehensive will with
yearly updates is included.
❖ Representation for traffic tickets,
accidents, criminal, and civil suits.
❖ Coverage on IRS tax audits.
❖ Divorce, child custody, bank-
ruptcy and many more benefits.*
THESE LEGAL SERVICES
ARE PROVIDED BY THE
VERY BEST LAW FIRMS
IN OREGON & WASHINGTON.
* Some services not 100% covered
For more
information,
call 503-760-2456
or toll-free at
(888) 252-7930
www.prepaidlegal.com/info/randallnix
PROTECTING UNION MEMBERS’ SMILES AND WALLETS.
Orthodontics Available
Quality, Affordable Family Dental Care
• General, cosmetic, and specialty care
• Most insurance and union plans accepted
• Easy credit and low monthly payments, O.A.C.
• Evening and Saturday appointments
• Ask about our
Dental Discount Program
Grants Pass
1021 NE 6th St.
Grants Pass, OR 97526
541-479-6696
“I CAN GO TO ONE PLACE TO FIX IT ALL?”
• Social Security
• SSI - Disability Claims
Northwest Dental Associates, P.C.
Northwest Dental Associates, P.C.
Gresham
443 NW Burnside Road
Gresham, OR 97030
503-492-8487
Salem
831 Lancaster Mall Dr. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-362-8359
Northwest Dental Associates, P.C.
Northwest Dental Associates, P.C.
Wilsonville
25700 SW Argyle Ave.
Wilsonville, OR 97070
503-682-8552
Salmon Creek
2101 NE 129th St.
Vancouver, WA 98686
360-574-4574
Northwest Dental Associates, P.C.
Klamath Falls
4052 S. 6th St.
Klamath Falls, OR 97603
541-883-7706
Northwest Dental Associates, P.C.
Personal Attention To Every Case
Milwaukie
17186 SE McLoughlin Blvd.
Milwaukie, OR 97267
503-659-2525
Working For Disability Rights
Since 1983
Northwest Dental Associates, P.C.
NO FEE WITHOUT RECOVERY
621 SW Morrison, Portland
Portland
3580 SE 82nd Ave.
Portland, OR 97266
503-777-0761
Chau Ngo, D.D.S., M.S.
Phong Bui, D.M.D.
Charles Stirewalt, D.D.S.
Stirewalt, P.C.
Fisher’s Landing
3250 SE 164th Ave.
Vancouver, WA 98683
360-891-1999
Peter Vu, D.M.D.
Chau Ngo, D.D.S.
Charles Stirewalt, D.D.S.
Stirewalt, P.C.
1-888-BRIGHT NOW
www.brightnow.com
223-8517
JANUARY 5, 2007
Serving unions for over 25 years
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 7