Brothers in arms – Cooper Findlay delegation meets Serbian union
It’s just over a month since Cooper Tire & Rubber announced its purchase of Serbian manufacturer Trayal’s passenger car tyre business. Since the acquisition agreement was signed on 8 December the Serbian firm has no doubt become more closely acquainted with its new owner; at the same time the union representing its employees has been getting to know the current thorn in Cooper’s side, the United Steelworkers union.
The USW reports that an international union representative has accompanied a delegation of locked-out workers from Cooper’s Findlay, Ohio factory on a visit to meet with leaders of Nezavisnost, the union that represents workers at the company’s recently purchased facility in Kruševac. Explaining the reason for this visit, USW International president Leo W. Gerard stated that international solidarity is especially important in the case of disputes with multinational employers, and the USW wished to establish a direct link for sharing information.
“The only answer to global corporate greed is global union solidarity,” Gerard said. “Cooper Tire management needs to understand our commitment to justice here. The company locked out 1,050 workers in Findlay, Ohio, but our fight is anywhere and everywhere the company does business until our members are back to work with a fair contract.”
After Cooper made its acquisition plans public in December, Nezavisnost president Milorad Panovic called upon the company to end the lockout in Findlay and pledged support for Cooper’s locked-out US workforce. The USW says meetings between the delegation and Nezavisnost are taking place in Serbia during the second week in January, and initial discussions will revolve around the unions’ common issues with Cooper and how workers in both countries can best support each other.
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