January 03, 2007
Humvee tire production expected back up again
Steelworkers end strike

By Kimberly Johnson
Staff writer

A strike at Goodyear that had threatened the Corps’ supply of Humvee tires has ended, with workers heading back to factories on Tuesday.

About 12,000 members of United Steelworkers of America walked off the job Oct. 5 at a dozen Goodyear tire plants around the U.S., including at a Topeka, Kan., facility that is the sole producer of Humvee tires. The work stoppage cut Humvee tire production by 35 percent, former House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said last month.

Deliveries of new Marine Humvees and light tactical trailers, which also use the tires, were slowed because of the strike, a spokesman for Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico, Va., said last month. All new deliveries to the continental U.S. would be delayed until the strike broke, he added.

Workers went back to assembly lines Tuesday after forging a new agreement with Goodyear management that the labor group said would protect benefits.

“It took a strike, but we achieved a fair and equitable contract that protects quality health care for active and retired members,” USW executive vice president Ron Hoover said in a statement.

It could take weeks for the tire plants to ramp up production to normal levels, the company said.

“I have no doubt our associates will quickly return to their normal high levels of performance and productivity,” said Jon Rich, president of Goodyear’s North American Tire business.

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