USW Says Conti Plant Sale Requires New Contract

(Akron/Tire Review) The American USW union has told Continental that its plan to sell off the Bryan, Ohio, OTR tyre plant will be contingent on the new owner (German OTR retreader Roesler Group) negotiating a new contract with union workers.

USW executive vice president John Sellers told CTNA that a “successorship clause,” common in USW contracts, holds that any company buying a represented tyre plant must first reach a new master contract with the affected Local. This is the same clause the USW has invoked in the case of Goodyear’s sale of its agricultural tyre business – including its Freeport, Illinois, agricultural plant – to Titan International. The deal is still to be finalised.