AKRON, Ohio — About 14,000 Goodyear workers walked off the job today, three days after their union warned the company its members would go on strike if contract demands weren’t met.

The United Steelworkers of America union said the workers hit the bricks just after noon today at 16 plants in the U.S. and Canada when the two sides hit a stalemate in contract talks.

Canadian plants affected are in Toronto, Collingwood and Owen Sound, Ont.

The tire maker — which has been trying to cut spending to offset rising raw material costs and competition from cheaper, overseas manufacturers — insists it has contingency plans in place to deal with the strike.

Truck OEMs have made an effort to diversify
their rubber supply in recent years

“We simply cannot accept a contract that knowingly creates a competitive disadvantage versus our foreign-owned competition and increases our cost disadvantage versus imports,’ Jim Allen, Goodyear’s chief negotiator, said in a statement.

One sticking point in negotiations is the company’s plan to close plants in Tyler, Tex., and Gadsden, Ala. Some reports also suggest workers aren’t happy with a recent health care proposal, which is said to decrease coverage.

“The company left us with no option,’ USW executive vice president Ron Hoover said in a statement. “We cannot allow additional plant closures after the sacrifices we made three years ago to help this company survive.’

Goodyear has been stockpiling rubber for at least some customers in anticipation of a strike. A GM spokesperson told Reuters the tire supplier has stored 30 days worth of tires for many GM plants. The company says it has other suppliers that can ramp up production if need be, which is good for Southern Ontario just-in-time truckers and parts movers that depend on auto facilities to keep assembly lines open.

It’s not clear if truck OEMs have been given similar guarantees, however. Freightliner, Goodyear’s largest commercial vehicles customer, did not return calls from TodaysTrucking.com as of this article posting.

Most other truckmakers have made an effort to diversify their supply base in recent years.

A spokesperson for Navistar, which produces International brand trucks, told TodaysTrucking.com that the company is monitoring the Goodyear strike very closely, but expects it has enough tire supply to ride out even a long-term labor conflict.

Part of the reason, says Tim Touhy, is that International made Hankook Tire America standard on 4000 and CF series vehicles, mitigating the truckmaker’s dependence on a single supplier. Less than 50 percent of the tires bought by International are from Goodyear today.

Volvo very recently made Bridgestone Firestone rubber standard in North America, replacing Goodyear. Bridgestone is also the main supplier of tires for Paccar, which makes Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks.

— with files from Reuters