Bridgestone employees to vote on new contract this week
The zero hour is quickly approaching at the local Bridgestone plant as the rank and file votes this week on the latest contract offer, which, if refused, could lead to the first strike in the plant’s 15-year history.
“The executive board (United Steel Workers 1155) has unanimously voted the offer be rejected and that’s what we’re recommending to the membership,” said local 1155 president Ron Vining, noting about 750 ballots will be cast by the rank and file this week. “It will be up to the membership to decide to accept or refuse the offer. They will be voting Thursday and Friday of this week and we should have results Friday night.”
Movement could be swift if the contract offer is refused. Vining said there will be a five-day notice of a strike issued to the company, at the end of which a work stoppage could result. The membership has already approved a measure to strike if terms could not be reached.
However, the Warren County plant could be left on an island if local workers choose to strike, according to Dan MacDonald, spokesman for Bridgestone/Firestone. MacDonald said tentative contracts have been reached for plants on the master contract as well as the maintenance groups. The Warren County contract is a separate contract as the local union opted not to enter the master contract for various reasons.
“We’ve said all along we want a contract which is in the best interest of both sides and we think we’ve achieved that,” MacDonald said, noting he could not discuss specifics of the proposed contract until it is ratified by the workers. “This contract, if approved, would run through July 2006.”
It is the short term of the contract, one year, as well as other reasons which have union leaders urging workers to reject the contract. They have worked without a contract for over two years, a contract which came even as workers here were getting ready to strike.
One major sticking point, Vining said, is the company’s proposed use of underpaid workers, which would make up about 10 percent of the workforce. These employees would make $13 an hour with no benefits.
Presently, workers at the plant make a minimum of $22 an hour.
Vining also said the contract does not provide satisfactory cost of living adjustments and that the company still wants to require mandatory overtime. He also said the local plant has the worst benefit package of all the Bridgestone plants.
While saying going out alone could weaken labor’s position in a strike, Vining said the plant has the advantage of voting first on their contract.
“If we vote down the contract, we will be getting on the phones and on the Internet and asking our union brothers to stand united with us,” Vining said. “We would also consider going back to the table if progress can be made.”
Vining said even if the other plants were agreeable with the company’s terms, he would expect union solidarity to require them to join the Warren County plant in work stoppage.