Getting workers back on the job our first priority, says Cooper
In a statement updating the progress of negotiations over its Findlay, Ohio factory, Cooper Tire & Rubber reports that the United Steelworkers union has rejected its offer to extend the recently expired worker’s contract. An extension of the contract that expired on October 31 would have allowed plant workers who are USW members to get back on the job as early as the weekend of 3-4 December and enable production to continue as usual while Cooper and the Union continue negotiations towards a new long-term contract. While Cooper’s statement did not specify the length of the extension sought, non-profit news magazine In These Times reports that Cooper wants to extend the current agreement by one year.