By Alabama Public Radio
Opelika, AL – Union leaders and management continued talks Wednesday night and agreed to extend negotiations on a new contract past a midnight deadline. The deal postponed a strike that could have affected more than 22-hundred workers at B-F Goodrich Tire Manufacturing factories in Tuscaloosa and Opelika. The union has about 14-hundred members at Opelika and 13-hundred in Tuscaloosa. The negotiations started last year. Some of the key issues include ending future workers' retirement medical benefits, capping the earnings of future employees at 80 percent of current pay and reducing vacation time and pay. The company wants plants to reduce costs by 18 percent, but union officials oppose concessions because earnings reports show the company turned a profit.