Bridgestone seeks deal from union

According to the website of the United Steelworkers of America, Bridgestone Firestone is seeking major wage and benefit concessions from the union. Furthermore, the company says that it “cannot and will not follow a pattern agreement ” like the one recently agreed with Goodyear. A spokesman for Bridgestone Americas said that the company would not negotiate in the media, but would follow the negotiation process and sit down at the table to talk and exchange information with the USWA.

The current contract with Bridgestone Americas expired in April and has been extended on a day to day basis while talks were on-going. It was put on hold while USWA thrashed out its agreement with Goodyear. Around 6,000 Bridgestone workers at eight factories are covered by the contract.The union website says that Bridgestone is seeking the right to hire up to ten per cent of the workforce as temporary workers with lower wages and no benefits, plus there would be mandatory overtime, no cost of living increases in some cases and pensions would be frozen. Minimum vacation lengths would be guaranteed. New hirees would not be eligible for medical benefits and deductions for health care would be increased.

If these conditions are correct, they fall a long way short of the agreement with Goodyear, recently ratified by the USWA. Under this agreement, the union gained a seat on the board, job security at most company factories and profit sharing, in exchange for a wage freeze and higher worker contributions to health care. In the past, the USWA practice has been to choose one of the big three US tyre manufacturers and come to an agreement, which is then used as the pattern for agreements with the others. The last time that Firestone was the target company was in 2000, just after the tyre recall, and no industrial action was taken. Back in 1994, however, when Firestone was not the target, the company suffered a two-year strike.