Winner
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.: Goodyear's 2006 Labor and Strike Communications Plan

Goodyear negotiates new labor contracts with its largest union, United Steelworkers, every three years. In 2006, negotiations with these 13,000 unionized workers in the US and Canada became particularly contentious due to growing healthcare costs and potential plant closings.

New circumstances called for a new communications strategy. In the past, Goodyear and the union agreed upon a blackout that allowed the union to control the information that was funneled down to its members. This time, the company decided to speak directly with employees. In addition, the new strategy would help Goodyear protect its reputation within the company and with its stakeholders.

The union contract expired on July 22 with negotiations still in progress; on October 5, the union called a strike. However, Goodyear's communications efforts began a year before negotiations with research into how other companies used the Internet in similar situations.

Goodyear designed its own Web site - http://www.goodyearnegotiations.com/ - that was accessible to people both inside and outside of the company, mindful to be factual rather than editorial in order to protect its credibility both before the strike was called and after. The Web site became a source of bargaining information and news about contract issues once the strike was underway. E-mail alerts were also sent to workers throughout the process.

The PR team sent the media to the site, where the company's offer to the union had been posted, generating news stories nationwide. Op-Eds from the business unit's president were also published in local media outlets where Goodyear had plants. Pressure mounted on the striking workers to return to work.

One judge commented that Goodyear demonstrated a "great use of the Web [and] good measurement results [that] changed [the] company approach and set new standards for [itself] and others." Another judge stated that Goodyear "gained credibility" during the episode. A third judge simply called it "the best."

An agreement between Goodyear and workers that saved the company $610 million over its term was ratified in 36 hours in December 2006. Its stock price nearly doubled during the strike and reached a seven-year high after the contract was ratified. Also, Goodyear's site has served as an example to others, such as American Airlines, which created a negotiations Web site modeled after Goodyear's.

Honorable Mention
FrogDog Communications and the Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation: Save the Center



In the 1960s and 1970s, The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation, a nonprofit providing residential and vocational services to more than 600 developmentally disabled adults in Houston, signed long-term, nominal leases on two tracts of land where it built its facilities. In 2002, with real-estate development booming, the city refused to renew the organization's lease for one tract and invalidated the other. After five years of negotiations, the city notified the center in writing, telling it to buy the land, lease it at market value, or leave. FrogDog Communications and the center sought to sway the city council, community leaders, and others. When the issue made its way to the Houston Chronicle, the organization and FrogDog worked to appear fair, while preventing acrimony between themselves and the mayor in the media and at city council meetings. In the end, the center agreed to purchase the land for $6 million over 15 years, with the city's help; they generated donations, including legal counsel; and they garnered support from the community.

Finalists 2008
Fleishman-Hillard and WhiteWave Foods Horizon Organic "Standards of Care"/Reputation Management Program
FrogDog Communications and the Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation Save the Center
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Goodyear's 2006 Labor and Strike Communications Plan
Qorvis Communications and Digital Media Association An Industry in Danger of Extinction
Weber Shandwick and Siemens Corporation Let the Good News Roll

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