Master Contract Proposal Sent To Striking Cooper Workers

(Akron/Tire Review) According to reports, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. sent a summary of its latest master contract proposal directly to striking Texarkana, Ark., plant workers last week, urging them to seek union permission to vote on the proposal.

The Texarkana Gazette reported that in the proposal and a letter from Cooper negotiating team to members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 752, Cooper officials said “it is important for you to see the entire final proposal that is on the table so you can make your own decisions as to whether this is a fair contract.”

The paper also reported that a small group of union workers have signed a petition seeking to bypass the local’s negotiating committee and holding a direct vote on Cooper’s proposal.

Some 1,700 Local 752 workers at the passenger and light truck/SUV tire plant have been on strike since Mar. 12. Formal talks between Cooper and the union broke down Mar. 14, and a negotiating session with a federal mediator on Mar. 24 ended after just five hours.

The main sticking points in the negotiations center around increased health care benefit costs being passed along to employees and retiree benefits, as well as work rule-related issues on seniority and job bidding.

Cooper negotiators, the newspaper said, said that Cooper employees at other union plants have accepted that the workforce must share in increased health care costs. “So that you understand the economic sense behind this contract offer, consider that the tire group’s profitability has declined dramatically and there are many tire companies more profitable than Cooper,” the letter reportedly stated.

The letter also explained that, “The basic economic package as proposed is designed to be cost neutral, which means any increases in wages, COLA, retirement or other benefits have been generated through savings from other areas,” the newspaper quoted from the letter. “The union has informed people that they offered to give up wage increases rather than have health care premiums. This is true. However, we cannot and will not reduce wages to pay for health care premiums. We have repeatedly told the negotiating committee that we would not do so.”