Goodyear, Striking Workers Reach Tentative Deal on New Contract

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and 15,000 union workers in the United States and Canada tentatively agreed Friday to a new contract that would end a two-month strike over health care for retirees and Goodyear's plan to close a tire factory in Texas, the union said.

The third-largest tiremaker and the United Steelworkers union settled after both sides resumed talks in Pittsburgh this week. The strike began Oct. 5 and included about 2,000 workers at a plant in Fayetteville.

The union said the deal would require Goodyear to drop plans to close the plant in Tyler, Texas, immediately in return for an offer of a retirement buyout. That plant employs 1,100 workers.

Mike Price, spokesman for Local 959 in Fayetteville, said the local members will go over details of the contract at 2 p.m. next Wednesday at the Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium before scheduling a Thursday vote at the union headquarters near the Fayetteville plant.