Continental and USWA Bargain Over Severance Package

Continental and the USWA are in the process of negotiating a severance agreement for the workers affected by the closure of the company’s Mayfield plant. The two sides are at loggerheads over the package, which the company sees as generous, but the union calls an insult.

The union is unhappy about the company’s proposals. These include a lump-sum severance payment of up to $8,000 per worker, a maximum 30 day health insurance cover and a special fund of more than $1.1 million to help displaced workers find jobs, retraining, health care, relocation and other transition expenses.

Continental plans to cease production by 31 December and shift work elsewhere, leaving 60 workers in tyre mixing and warehousing and hundreds unemployed.