Findlay dispute – a return to a more combative tone?
In the last couple of weeks the tyrepress.com website has published a number of texts updating the progress, or lack thereof, of negotiations between Cooper Tire & Rubber and the United Steelworkers towards a new contract for Cooper’s Findlay, Ohio plant. The current standoff between union and tyre maker is not the first Tyres & Accessories has reported, and is certain not to be the last. Yet some think what is happening in Findlay shows the direction US labour relations are taking; the Wall Street Journal, for example, opines that “the clash between Cooper and its 1,050 union workers may signal a return to a more combative tone in the America's industrial heartland.”
The Dow Jones & Company-owned publication describes the situation in Findlay, painting a picture of workers huddled around fire barrels outside the plant and jeering bussed-in temporary workers, as having “taken on the trappings of a 1960s battle: failed mediation, a lockout, sign-waving picketers, replacement workers and accusations flying on both sides.” Such an event is, it comments, unusual at a time of high unemployment and labour peace in the auto industry.
Crisis cutbacks – here to stay or should they go?
According to the Wall Street Journal, a problem across the US industrial sector is that manufacturers are looking to continue the wage cuts negotiated during the last recession while workers are seeking to recoup what they ceded. In Cooper’s case, workers represented by the USW agreed to forgo wage rises and accepted a two-tiered wage system that meant new employees would start on lower wages; this was three years ago, at a time when Cooper Tire & Rubber was in the red to the tune of more than US$200 million. During the crisis years tiered wage deals such as this were a key feature of many US automotive industry agreements. Now, in 2011, Cooper is again turning a profit – and the USW is ready for the company to return to a single wage rate. The union is also after reduced healthcare costs.
Cooper management presented the USW with an offer that includes signing bonuses and some wage increases – in exchange for productivity improvements, tighter caps on holidays and more flexibility on pay. The offer also retained the two-tier wage system, which pays entry-level workers approximately $13 an hour, around half what experienced workers earn. Thus the impasse began.
Cooper’s position is that giving the USW what it seeks would be a potentially fatal blow to its competitiveness. In a letter Cooper Tire’s president of North American Tire Operations, Chris Ostrander, emphasised “the bottom line is we need a competitive agreement. Not all jobs are created equal, nor should there be an expectation to pay an amount higher than what the market determines is fair.” In another official statement, Ostrander said “without quality, cost-competitive products, there are no customers. Without customers, there are no jobs. It is essential that Cooper becomes more efficient in its existing operations to ensure the long-term viability of Cooper overall.”
As previously reported, Cooper is employing temporary workers to run the Findlay plant. The decision to use temporary workers was taken in order to avoid the risk of having a simultaneous shutdown in Findlay and at the company’s Texarkana plant, where the current union labour agreement will also soon expire. These two plants account for nearly half of the tyre maker’s total US production. According to USW-sourced information published by the Wall Street Journal, the replacement workers in Findlay are earning $17 an hour – a significantly lower amount than experienced full-time workers – plus a meal allowance. Ostrander declined to confirm to the publication, or anyone else, how many replacement workers have been hired or discuss details of their pay structure. He did state, however, that he will keep them on in Findlay as long as necessary to keep the plant running. Such workers are easy to find following years of layoffs in Central Ohio’s tyre industry, the Wall Street Journal noted.
Protecting workers – from themselves
Ostrander shared that Cooper executives have also accepted cuts. “This is not a corporate greed story,” he told the Wall Street Journal, noting that his father and brother were both union steelworkers. “We want to protect these folks from themselves. We want to make this plant competitive for the long term.” Ostrander suggested there’s more at stake at Cooper than just wages and work rules. Regarding what may happen should the dispute continue, he said “I have a concern for the future of this facility. Not only for the manufacturing, but it could affect what we decide to do with our headquarters.”
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