The United Steelworkers Union has reached an agreement with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company that will avoid a strike at several facilities across the country, including the Goodyear plant in Fayetteville.
The negotiations were over a four-year labor agreement for 8,500 hourly employees at six plants. Terry Brewington is Vice president of the Fayetteville office of United Steelworkers. He said his union was fighting for cost of living raises, more vacation time for new hires and increased wages for people hired after 2006.He also said he was very worried about the potential for a strike.
"I was extremely concerned for a lot of our members," Brewington says. "A lot of our members are younger people. And we had people that we just hired this week. It's hard to go weeks without a paycheck."
For now, employees will continue to work under an old contract until the new agreement is ratified. That should take about two to three weeks.