LOOKING AHEAD 2006 negotiations

What's ahead: The Goodyear Tire & amp; Rubber Co. and the United Steelworkers of America next year will go back to negotiations to replace a three-year contract that expires July 22. Early tension: Goodyear executives said at an investors' meeting in New York on Sept. 23 they will close an undetermined number of plants to save up to $1 billion over the next three years. Steel debate: "The Steelworkers understand what happened in the steel industry," said Jonathan Rich, who heads the company's North American tire unit. "I don't see how it applies to Goodyear," said Ron Hoover, the union's Goodyear coordinator.