Business Channel 2006-12-08&10

NASCAR has been an American institution for 53 years. The drivers, the fans, the cars, a symbol of America. But the tires, that could be a different story in the future.

Goodyear has an exclusive contract to make NASCAR tires. The United Steelworkers union accuses the tire company of slowly driving American jobs out of the country to China and Eastern Europe. At a dinner marking the end of the NASCAR season steelworkers protested:

When you mess with the steelworkers, it's gonna be a bad year for Goodyear.

15,000 United steelworkers walked off the job in October over retiree health benefits and job security after Goodyear said it would close a Texas plant. Meanwhile Goodyear has ramped² up investments in China where workers are paid 42 cents an hour.

The reality is that the economic trading system is bankrupting America. The economic trading system is showing companies like Goodyear a roadmap out of town.

The steelworkers say three years ago they accepted pay cuts and other concessions³ that boosted last year's after-tax profits to 230 million dollars.

As a result of that, Goodyear's had an economic turnaround. Their stock price is up, so it means the stockholders did well. The senior management, the president, CEO, and the board and lots of others paid themselves big bonuses. So they've done well.

The striking steelworkers have not done well. Their jobs went to replacement⁴ workers. Goodyear declined an interview request, but in a statement said, "We are increasing our domestic production of tires every day and we are importing more tires everyday from our global manufacturing base. All of those tires meet Goodyear's same high standards of quality."

Goodyear's Tyler, Texas plant will close in June. 1,200 workers there will lose their jobs. It's the second Goodyear plant closing in just three years.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.



ramp¹ up (phrasal verb)
if a company ramps⁵ up an activity, it increases it
Producers can quickly ramp up production.

1 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

2 ramped   

土堤斜坡( ramp的过去式和过去分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• With the arrival of George Lucas, the pace has ramped up. 随着乔治·卢卡斯的到来，速度大大加快。
• They also sold corporate bonds as the global financial crisis ramped up. 在全球金融危机加剧之际，他们还抛售了公司债券。

3 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

4 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

5 ramps   

resources allocation and multiproject scheduling 资源分配和多项目的行程安排

参考例句：

• Ramps should be provided for wheelchair users. 应该给轮椅使用者提供坡道。
• He has the upper floor and ramps are fitted everywhere for his convenience. 他住在上面一层，为了他的方便着想，到处设有坡道。