AKRON, Ohio — The union representing about 14,000 striking Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. workers approved a new contract that includes plans to close a Texas tire factory and creates a $1 billion health care fund for retirees, the United Steelworkers said early today.

USW union members from 12 plants in 10 states, including about 1,400 laid off and inactive workers, voted last night on the three-year agreement reached last week.

The contract was approved by all locals and by the overall membership by a two-to-one margin, the union said. Exact totals were not released. The contract needed to be approved by a majority of the locals, plus a majority of the voters.

The world's third largest tiremaker and the union reached the deal after both sides resumed talks in Pittsburgh last week. The strike began Oct. 5.

"It took a strike, but we achieved a fair and equitable contract that protects quality healthcare for active and retired members," USW executive vice president Ron Hoover said in a statement. "And by winning major capital investment expenditures, it secures our jobs for the future."

Striking workers were expected to return to work beginning Tuesday, the union said.

The contract would allow the tiremaker to close a plant in Tyler, Texas, but not immediately. It provides for a one-year transition period in which the workers will have the opportunity to take advantage of retirement buyouts. The plant employs 1,100 workers who make unprofitable wholesale private label tires.

"It's a bittersweet outcome," said Kevin Johnsen, a union contract coordinator. "We wanted to win Tyler protected status like the other plants, but we only got it for 2007."

One key issue during the nearly 3-month-old strike had been over a company-proposed healthcare fund for retirees.

Goodyear ultimately agreed to put $1 billion into the fund for retired union workers' medical benefits, which was higher than the company's previous $660 million offer but less than the union's call for roughly double that amount.

The company has said the tentative pact would help the Akron-based company to be more globally competitive.

Before the vote, some union members at halls across the country expressed concern about the proposal, saying they feared the retiree healthcare fund was underfunded and that they questioned job security. But many of them said the believed the pact was the best deal they could get.