Goodyear Tire Officially Grinch of the Year

by Mike Hall, Dec 22, 2006

The polls have closed, the votes have been counted and a winner has been declared.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is the Grinch of the Year, say voters in the sixth annual Jobs with Justice (JWJ) contest to name the nation’s worst corporate malfeasor.

Voters said Goodyear has done more harm to working families than any other Big Business entity. Goodyear forced out on strike in October more than 15,000 United Steelworkers (USW) members at 16 plants in the U.S. and Canada.

Despite concessions from workers and retirees in 2003 that kept Goodyear afloat, the company has demanded a new contract that would slash retiree health coverage and call for an additional plant closing, with the loss of 1,100 jobs. At the same time, the company is importing tires from plants overseas, including China. 

Says Fred Azcarate, national JWJ executive director:

Goodyear truly is the Grinch Who Stole Christmas from working families this year. 15,000 families have been living on strike pay and their savings for almost three months, and their health benefits are set to expire on Jan. 2.

Last week, thousands of USW, other union members and community allies staged some 150 events at Goodyear stories around the nation to draw attention to the tiremaker’s attack on working families. Talks between the union and Goodyear resumed this week, but neither side is commenting on the negotiations.

Goodyear got 52 percent of the more than 10,000 votes in the Grinch polling, and Joseph Luter III, former CEO and current chairman of the board of meatpacking giant Smithfield, took second place with 39 percent of the vote.

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