Firestone, Steelworkers Reach Tentative Pact

Troubled tire maker Firestone, facing a crisis over allegations that its tires caused dozens of traffic deaths, reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers of America early Monday to avert a strike at nine U.S. plants, a union official said.

“We did quite well,” John Duray, a union spokesman, told reporters after a meeting in St. Louis between the Steelworkers and Firestone officials. “If we didn’t think so, we wouldn’t agree to it.”

Duray declined to comment on details of the proposal, saying only that “it’s a vast improvement” from the union’s previous contract.

Duray said the union and Firestone officials would continue working on the tentative agreement and hoped to release details to union members by today.

The agreement was much needed good news for Firestone, a unit of Japan’s Bridgestone Corp., which is reeling from the recall of 6.5 million tires. Safety regulators in the United States are looking into reports that the tires, mostly on Ford Motor Co.’s Explorer sport-utility vehicles, are linked to as many as 69 traffic deaths.

One issue negotiators discussed involved a 12 1/2-hour rotating shift specific to a Firestone plant in Warren County, Tenn., said John Sellers, a union negotiator.

Union representatives said negotiations had been held for six months and was separate from the tire recalls.

“As incredible as it sounds, we did not get this [tire recall] issue into the bargaining,” Sellers said.

The tentative agreement would cover more than 8,000 workers at nine U.S. plants, seven of which produce tires. The other two produce tire parts.

Firestone said the proposal was competitive and fair. It would expire April 23, 2003.

“We negotiated in good faith to create tentative agreements that we believe serve the best interests of our customers, our employees and our company,” the company said in a statement.

The union had set a strike deadline of midnight Friday, but union negotiators agreed to extend it and keep workers on the job at Firestone plants over the weekend.

The two sides talked nearly nonstop Saturday and Sunday at a St. Louis hotel before reaching a deal. When complete, the agreement must go to union members for ratification.

A strike would have added to the company’s woes at a time when it is facing a widening U.S. federal investigation, another one in Venezuela, where the tires have been linked to at least 46 deaths, and a proliferation of lawsuits from consumers.

In addition to the massive U.S. recall announced Aug. 9, Firestone was hit Friday by a new government warning that 1.4 million more tires may be faulty.

Union officials have said the main bargaining issues included overtime, mandatory holiday work, seniority, job security, medical benefits, pensions, the company’s right to hire temporary workers and an incentive system in which a worker’s pay is tied to productivity and the quality of tires.

Union members have been working under extensions since contracts expired this spring and summer. Firestone’s union workers now make between $8 and $18 an hour.