What Goodyear Got From Its Union

摘要

When leaders of the United Steel-workers union sat down last April to negotiate a new labor pact with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., they knew they were headed for trouble. After all, the nation's largest tire maker had lost $1.1 billion in the previous year as rivals selling cheap tires made in low-wage countries sliced its market share by three points, to 19.5%. Just as bad, a revolving door of top executives had racked up a crushing $5 billion in debt by investing in acquisitions and new tire products that didn't pan out. The union's options? Allow Goodyear to replace some of its 14 U.S. plants with ones in Asia, or fight the company with a strike that could force it into bankruptcy.