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Goodyear, union reach tentative deal

Just hours before an 11 p.m. deadline Saturday, a tentative deal was reached between Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and its employees.

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Goodyear employees preparing for possible strike
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Just hours before an 11 p.m. deadline Saturday, a tentative deal was reached between Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and its employees.

The United Steelworkers of America has been in negotiations since April, and last week the 2,500 employees at the tire manufacturer's Fayetteville plant were put on notice about a possible strike if negotiations on a new labor contract could not be reached.

"We think this is a very good tentative agreement. It took a lot of pressure off the membership," Terry Brewington, vice president of the United Steelworkers of America, said. "The company has made record profits for the last three years, and we're happy they were willing to negotiate with us."

Over the next couple of weeks, the union's policy committee will meet and review the proposal before it goes up for a vote.

In all, the new contract covers about 8,000 employees at six plants in the United States.

The Fayetteville Observer reported that, under the pending agreement, employees at the Fayetteville location will be protected from closure for the next four years.

In the Fayetteville plant's 40-year history, workers have gone on strike twice – the last time for about three months in 2006 over a contract dispute regarding health care for retirees and plans to close a factory in Texas.

In 2009, workers came close to another walkout, but the union and Goodyear reached a contract deal three hours before the midnight deadline.

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