Bridgestone says strike won’t halt tire production
The Steel Workers Union has drawn a line in the sand saying either Bridgestone come up with a better offer or the workers will walk at midnight July 15.
Meanwhile the company says it has a fair offer on the table and that Bridgestone has a contingency plan should the 750-person force decide to walk out.
“This is the most productive plant in the company but this need for greed has seen them invest $1.6 billion in offshore plants,” said United Steel Worker’s Local 1155 president Ron Vining, who said the central issue concerning workers is job security and the heavy investment the company is making out of country, including the building of six plants outside U.S. borders.
Bridgestone spokesman Dan MacDonald said the company is waiting to hear something official from the union to see if returning to the table is even an option. In the meantime, MacDonald said the company will continue production at the plant, with or without the union workers.
“We do have a contingency plan to run the plant in the event of a strike,” MacDonald said. “As a business, you have to plan for all kinds of scenarios. We do have the resources to keep the plant running and, in short order, we would be producing truck and bus tires at the plant. Hopefully, it won’t come to that.”
Vining said there are issues with the company’s proposed lesser-paid temporary work force, which would account for 10 percent of labor at the plant but would not receive benefits. There are also issues with mandatory overtime, the overall benefit package, cost-of-living increases, and the one-year term of the proposed contract.
The rank and file turned down Bridgestone’s latest offer, with 85 percent of the union voting to reject the contract in what Vining described as the heaviest voter turnout in union history here.
“Once they read the loopholes and the details of the contract, they knew it wasn’t for them,” Vining said, noting the union’s executive board had voted unanimously to recommend the 750-member rank and file turn down the offer.
The workers have been working without a contract for more than a year. Their most recent working contract was hammered out in 2000, agreed to only hours before the Morrison plant planned to walk out, in what would have been the first and only strike in local plant history. While wanting a contract, Vining said the company’s “last, best offer” is not good enough and that the ball is now in the company’s court. Workers at the local plant have already authorized a strike if their demands are not met.
Vining said the union intends to issue its five-day notice with the company July 11 and then begin striking at midnight July 15. Vining also said it will be up to the company to contact them as to further negotiations. In the meantime, the other plants will be casting their votes for the contract at the end of this month, two weeks before the Morrison contingent plans to walk out.
Vining said the other plants will be asked to join the local union in refusing the plan. However, Vining said the local plant is ready to go on strike alone if the remainder of plants accept the agreement.
Contract talks
The union has listed several problems with the contract offered by Bridgestone:
Bridgestone has called the contract proposal its last and best offer. It’s unclear if the company will negotiate further.