Posted on 11/29/2011 4:23:21 AM PST by TSgt
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. began a lockout of its 1,050 unionized workers Monday after they rejected a proposed new labor contract.
Cooper plans to keep making tires at the Findlay plant with temporary workers, the company said. It did not disclose how.
United Steelworkers Local 207L President Rod Nelson said the company has enlisted Strom Engineering and Strom Strategic Consulting of Minnetonka, Minn., a "labor contingency" firm, according to Strom's website. Cooper also is getting help from temporary employment agencies, Nelson said.
"They're paying these workers a lot more than they're paying their employees," Nelson said. "It's kind of sad."
Nelson feared Cooper might make the move when earlier Monday it kept workers out of the plant. He was skeptical when the company initially said the work stoppage was merely an extension of a Thanksgiving shutdown.
But when the company later called the stoppage a lockout, Nelson was still stunned.
"I'm in a state of shock," Nelson said minutes after getting official word late Monday afternoon. "I hope we can come to some kind of agreement. I am optimistic we would."
Union members on Sunday voted 606-305 against a proposed pact negotiated last week by Cooper management and union representatives. Details of the proposed agreement have not been released.
With or without a labor agreement, with or without its unionized workers, Cooper said it is determined to make tires in Findlay.
"While certain production adjustments may be necessary in the short term, Cooper will continue to supply its customers with the quality products they have come to expect," the company said. "Cooper is committed to making every effort to support its customers during this labor action."
Fear of losing customers as a result of a production decline is on management's minds. The labor contract at Cooper's Texarkana, Ark. plant expires in mid-January, and the company wants to avoid having simultaneous work stoppages at both plants.
At Findlay, "The company advanced several options to avoid the contract overlap that is looming, including a last, best and final proposal for a new long-term contract and an offer to extend the recently expired contract for an additional year with no change in terms," Cooper stated. "The United Steelworkers was unwilling to extend the contract more than 30 days, which would have placed the labor agreements at two of Cooper's major U.S. facilities even closer together."
Nelson said he assured Cooper that Findlay workers would not strike.
"That's not what we want. That's not what we're after. Our strategy is to request to get back to the table to reach a mutual agreement, a fair contract," Nelson said. "We'll offer a no-strike clause, if that's what's needed. I pledged to the company we won't strike. It's my personal pledge."
He said most Findlay production workers disliked the company's new contract offer and were not enamored of the last three-year contract, which expired Oct. 31. It included $30 million in pay and benefit concessions, made under the cloud of the company's announced plans in 2008 to close a U.S. plant. Ultimately, Cooper closed its Albany, Ga., plant.
"We've still got a lot of problems with the last contract," Nelson said.
Cooper said it has not given up on talking with the union.
Cooper is "committed to reaching an agreement with the (union) that recognizes the realities of the tire industry while providing a competitive wage and benefit package for its employees," the company said. "Dates for future negotiations are currently being finalized."
“They’re paying these workers a lot more than they’re paying their employees,” Nelson said. “It’s kind of sad.”
Of course they are paying temp worker more, even if they are paying minimum wage to temp workers, those workers are making more money than employee’s who are not working at all.
Now that the union Bozos are locked out will that mean an increase in OWS protestors? The unionistas are fools.
My wife’s uncle retired from Cooper in Findlay. He made good money and has a nice retirement.
I wish I were as optimistic, but the “public” just demonstrated that they will roll over and fall for the union B.S. quite handily. It simply required the unions to spend a few billion dollars convincing people that if they don't allow union thugs to dictate the agenda that grandma will die and their numb-skull kids won't have enough teachers to babysit them.
The percentages weren't even close on that one.
Of course. Occupy Cooper Tire would be a natural extension for the OWS gang. Workers (lemmings) of the world UNITE...and start a business. Would they unionize it?
When the tire industry completely disappears from America, there will be FReepers who will insist that we must have tariffs on foreign tires to make American tire-making competitive. Episodes like this one will be forgotten and the “greedy” American consumer will be blamed instead.
Exactly!
ditto
Lost acquaintances over issue 2.
Once upon a time, I was the Plant Engineer at a rubber produts company. The Steelworker’s unionized the facility. Employment went from around 250 to about 85 within six months.
USW vs URW is sort of like WWE vs WWF.
These articles are useless unless they spell out the current salary and benefits scales and the proposed salary and benefits scales. They should also include a listing of any disputed working rules and regulations that chaffe at either management or labor.
Section. 8.The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
Duties and imposts are "taxes" imposed on imported goods from foreign countries.
My position is that the Founders were intelligent people, and if there were no place whatsoever for duties and imposts that they would have not included them in the powers of Congress.
I favor duties and imposts on goods imported from foreign countries who have distorted the free market. If they use slave or slave equivalent labor, then they have distorted the market. If they use regulation or fees against our imports or refuse our imports, then they have distorted a free market. If they have the government subsidize the production of any good, then they have distorted the market.
To compensate for the distortion of a free market, I endorse duties and imposts.
In short, I agree with the U.S. Constitution. There is a time and place for these things.
American Labor Union sending more U.S. jobs to China.
“They’re paying these workers a lot more than they’re paying their employees,” Nelson said. “It’s kind of sad.”
Not when one considers the temporary workers are betting their lives that they won’t be harmed or worse by union thugs.
—it becomes painfully obvious that the temporary workers - for whom Cooper Tire is not obligated to provide all sorts of expensive, uneconomic benefits - are substantially cheaper than the union parasites they’ve just evicted.—
This.
I’ve been in Information Technology since 1983. Twelve years of it as a contractor. I always made more contracting, but I was paid a strict hourly rate. And the full billing rate was the same or less than the employees cost “per hour”. In one case I made, in hourly wages, more than three times what the employees were making in raw hourly wages.
The URW merged with the steel workers over a decade ago...
My step-son started his own business competing with his former employer. The former employer is fully union while my step-son’s company is not. He is killing his competition, not because his employees work cheaper, but because with no union labor he can be more flexible.
His employees are paid a VERY good wage based on work completed rather than by the hour. Also, at the old union place, if they needed someone to work until 12:30, they would not do it because the union said lunch break was between 12 and 1. Even if the employer just wanted them to shift their lunch break one day by a half hour, no dice.
Sure, you can take advantage of non-union employees, but you can also get rich, and enhance your employees riches as well, when the whole organization works to better the company as a team. Unions are overtly anti-teaming, which is always a recipe for disaster in a company.
There was a possibility that Marathon was moving out about a decade ago but it didn’t happen. If it had Findlay may have suffered greatly.
My home town only 15 miles away has shrunk by more than a third since I was in high school 30 years ago.
Nine plus percent unemployment and the Union is dicking around with the company?! Now is not the time to have a socialist hissy fit, unless Great Leader and the Federal Department of We’re-Taking-Over-Everything has agreed to come to the Union’s rescue.
This concept worked pretty well for decades until the advent of radial tires that last three or four times as long as the old design.
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