What do you think of the Goodyear strike?

Question

Do you support it, oppose it, or does this not effect your city directly or indirectly?

Answer 1

Let me tell you my perspective on the strike. A family member of mine works (worked?) for Goodyear for over 20 years. He was close to retirement. The higher-ups in the company wanted to cut the hourly wages of the workers like him by almost HALF and take away his retirement. At least he HAS a union to back him up; if there was no union, he would have practically wasted the last 20+ years of his life.

In his plant, people with even slightly innovative ideas on how to improve efficiency and keep costs down have been demoted or have disappeared. The company doesn't want to hear it. They think people like him are "unskilled" because he doesn't have a college degree. His process is not only skilled work, it's very tedious (as are the processes of many of his coworkers). When they brought in temps to get his plant running again, he predicted that many of them would wind up dead.

He's now a part-time temp at another local factory while waiting for word on the strike. He works weekends only, 12 hours a day on Sat. and Sun.; for half the hourly pay (or less) than he was making before.

It's a terrible time for a strike, with the holidays and all. In fighting for their pay and retirement, the Goodyear employees are now earning nothing (at least from Goodyear). We all want it to be over soon; however, if there was ever a reason to go on strike, they've got one. Goodyear needs to stop treating its employees like crap. I hope this is all it will take to make them realize that; but I have a bad feeling it's not.

Answer 2

The strike is over now. The union caved in via fact their club grow to be approximately to start having to pay COBRA coverage costs and the management knew the wooden line could harm. for 3 months out of paintings the union have been given merely approximately no longer something. Now Goodyear can hire new workers at decrease salary costs so as which will stress a wedge between the older workers and the hot hires greater effective weakening the union. the huge score for Goodyear grow to be removing being to blame for retiree healthcare.

Answer 3

Well it does effect my city I live in Gadsden Al. I really feel bad about the strike then but the thing is here in Gadsden half the city is working there now through a temp agency, I mean we got all types of inexperienced people working there people on disability. Drug dealers, teenagers, old people, Base heads and all not saying that they should not be able to work but half of them don't have a clue what they are doing but they are out there making tires that we have to put on our cars and have not been trained properly. I have a friend that is working out there to get her kids Christmas. In Alabama our employment rate is very low and the cost of living is on a rise here and the jobs that are available to us are very low paying jobs unless you are a doctor, nurse or something and so when that temp agency bought that contract everybody in Alabama jumped on the band wagon because these were people that didn't have a job or couldn't work and wanted to make that little extra money you wouldn't believe it, but make 13 dollars and hour here plus overtime is a blessing for my neck of the woods. If it wasn't for my husband ( a experienced welder) I probably would have went out there myself. I work at a place called Cintas a uniform company were we clean a produce uniforms and Goodyear is one of our biggest customers, I still have uniforms that are on hold for Goodyear and just recently on of the drivers came and picked out 20 uniforms with people names on it to let the temps wear......I mean to add insult to injury they already have crossed the Pickett line and working in their places but to wear their uniforms....no way couldn't be me.

Answer 4

I support labor unions. Sometimes they need to strike to make things right, just like sometimes CEO's have to lay over hundreds of workers to placate their investors.

Answer 5

It's a lot like all strikes: Lose-Lose. It takes a long time to make up for the lost wages.