USWA & GOODYEAR ~ VEBA

CORRECTED - Union starts process to set Goodyear health trust
Thu Jul 5, 2007

"GOODYEAR/ (CORRECTED) ?

CHICAGO, July 5 (Reuters) - The United Steelworkers Union has filed a federal class action lawsuit needed to establish a retiree health care trust plan agreed with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) that helped end a three-month strike in 2006.The union filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in federal court in Akron, Ohio, on behalf of more than 30,000 current and future union retirees from Goodyear as a key step in establishing a Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association, or VEBA. Disagreement over the amount of money needed to fund a trust was a main reason for the steelworker union's strike in North America last year. Other auto industry companies and unions may look at the trust to see whether it would resolve some of their liabilities as well. Under the 2006 agreement, Goodyear will contribute $1 billion to set up the trust, which will eliminate $1.2 billion of liabilities and shift the responsibility for maintaining the health benefits to the trust.The lawsuit was expected and the process of obtaining court approval for the trust is expected to take several months, Goodyear said in a statement.

Editorial : Ah, the legal system at work ? If you ask me, and no one did.

They named the VEBA wrong !

"Saving America"