Union is Optimistic a Deal Can be Reached Without Strike

(Akron/Tire Review – Des Moines Register) Al Skinner and Mark Highland both live in the Des Moines area, but they could be spending a lot of time together in St. Louis in the next several weeks.

Skinner, 52, president of Des Moines Local 310 of the United Steelworkers, will be on the union side of the bargaining when contract negotiations resume today between the Steelworkers and Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone/Firestone.

Highland, 40, will be on the company side. He’s the human resource manager of the Bridgestone business unit that includes the company’s Firestone Agricultural Tire Division factory on Second Avenue, just north of the Des Moines city limits.

The talks affect about 1,355 union members at the tire factory and about 800 retirees, Skinner said.

The factory is Polk County’s largest manufacturing employer. It pays wages that start at $13.64 an hour and range to $27 an hour for highly skilled workers making certain products, according to the union and company. The average wage at the plant is $22.62, the company said.

The importance of the talks goes beyond the direct effects on the company and the union members and their families.

Peter Orazem, an economist at Iowa State University, said the outcome can provide an indication of “the strength of big manufacturing in Iowa.”

The manufacturing sector not only has been gaining jobs but also has suffered closings or planned closings of big manufacturing plants, such as the Maytag washer/dryer factory in Newton and the Rubbermaid plant in Centerville.

“It is our small, rural manufacturing that has been the engine of growth,” Orazem said. “A smooth negotiation in a sector that has been the source of labor-management disputes in the past is a signal that at least some large urban manufacturers are doing well.”

Relations between the union and management at Bridgestone/Firestone endured a bitter, 10-month strike at several plants that began in 1994, when workers were represented by the United Rubber Workers union. That union later became part of the Steelworkers.

The current negotiations also cover 3,450 workers at six other plants in other states. Bridgestone closed a plant in Oklahoma City in December.

The old contract expired in July, but workers have remained in their jobs. Talks recessed for about four months while the Steelworkers concentrated on settlements with Michelin’s BFGoodrich and Uniroyal subsidiaries and Goodyear. The union reached a deal with Goodyear after a three-month strike.

Skinner and Highland discussed the upcoming talks in separate interviews last week. Some of their comments:

Q: What will the issues be in negotiations?

Skinner: Two of the major issues are going to be retiree health care and job security language. Both the Goodrich and Goodyear contracts guarantee that union plants can’t close during the length of the agreement and can’t reduce their manufacturing volume below a certain level and that, in turn, would keep people from getting laid off.

Highland: The company has one issue going into this, and that’s to make sure our company stays globally competitive. That might entail looking at health care, pensions, wages, job security – multiple issues. But the overriding thing is that we must be globally competitive.

Q: Does that mean the company might be asking for concessions from the union?

Highland: I can’t really go into details on the negotiations because it’s a give-and-take process between the company and the union. What we want to do is get a competitive agreement that is a positive for both the company and the union so we both walk away from the table respecting and agreeing with the agreement.

Q: What do you think the chances are for a strike?

Skinner: I think we can get a contract without a strike. I believe that. But we’re prepared to do whatever it takes to go the distance if we have to.

Highland: That’s a union question. We certainly hope that we can go in and get a competitive agreement that’s good for the company and the union.

Q: How do negotiations work? How much time is actually spent with the union and the company sitting across from each other at a table negotiating?

Skinner: When things really get cooking, we’ve negotiated in the middle of the night. When it gets down to the fine line, we’ll work nonstop.

Highland: It’s really on a day-by-day, case-by-case basis. Depending on what the topic or issue is, both sides could be in the room all day discussing particular issues. At other times, if it’s something just involving local plants, there could be smaller subcommittees set up that are meeting and discussing. There is significant time across the table from each other.