Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.:

Industry sources report that Goodyear, which owns Dunlop, and the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) union are far apart on contract issues and that a strike could be called in the near future.

The USWA labor union called Goodyear’s latest offer “completely unacceptable” and turned it down because it called for reduced health care benefits and failed to provide job protection in case of plant closures.

A deadline of midnight, June 27 passed with no contract agreement, and no further talks have been scheduled.

It’s unknown if or how a strike would affect production of Dunlop motorcycle tires in Buffalo, New York.

At post time, a Dunlop executive declined to comment on the record and referred questions to the company’s Public Relations Department, which had already closed for the day.

Stay tuned.