USW Archives - Page 4 of 14 - Tyrepress

Posts

Cooper workers to participate in ‘justice’ road trip

The lockout at Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Findlay plant in the US state of Ohio has been in effect for almost three months now. And while the tyre maker is keeping quiet about how or even if it plans to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with the United Steelworkers union, the situation is being kept in the public eye by the union. On 15 February the USW announced a joint project with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM). Called “From Fargo to Findlay: A Journey for Justice”, the project involves locked out workers from Findlay and a BCTGM represented factory embarking on a road trip from Fargo, North Dakota (where the aforementioned factory is located) to Findlay. The USW says the road trip’s aim is to “focus attention on the most recent wave of greed-motivated corporate attacks on workers and their unions.”

16th February 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Findlay talks break down – again

Recently resumed talks over a new contract for Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Findlay plant in Ohio have already stalled, local media sources report. Representatives from the tyre maker and the United Steelworkers union only began negotiations again on 6 February, yet a union official told the Coshcoton Tribune that they’ve already stalled.

8th February 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Talking again – Cooper, USW restart Findlay discussions

It’s been a good six or seven weeks since the Findlay talks between Cooper Tire & Rubber and the United Steelworkers union broke down, and no positive news has been heard on the subject since the start of the year. Now it seems the two parties are finally working again towards an amicable solution. Local news source WTOL reports that Cooper Tire management met with union leaders on 6 February; discussions between the tyre maker and the union are said to have lasted some six and a half hours, and meetings are scheduled to resume this morning.

7th February 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper, USW give Texarkana deal the thumbs up

The new four-year contract for unionised employees at Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Texarkana plant in Arkansas, USA has been ratified by both the tyre maker and the United Steelworkers union. The agreement, which affects approximately 1,500 union members, received a 1,006 to 141 vote endorsement. The new deal includes wage and benefit changes, which will be implemented over the course of the four-year accord, plus plans for additional plant investment – a measure Cooper says was “applauded” by both salaried and hourly employees.

27th January 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Texarkana talks show Cooper, USW how negotiations should look

Cooper Tire & Rubber’s fears of concurrent production stoppages at its two major US plants have been allayed with the reaching of a tentative agreement for workers at its Texarkana facility. The tyre maker says it reached the four-year labour agreement with the United Steelworkers union shortly before the current contract expired on 20 January. Details of the agreement are being withheld pending presentation to union members during the course of this week.

23rd January 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper's Texarkana contract to expire

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s contract with United Steelworkers at its plant in Arkansas expires at midnight tonight, with no indication of what may occur after the contract is up, reports Tire Review. Cooper locked out 1,050 workers at its Findlay, Ohio plant after contract talks stalled there, but has yet to comment about the Texarkana negotiations.

19th January 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

US Cooper retailers targeted by union protest

Direct negotiations between Cooper Tire and the United Steelworkers union regarding Cooper’s Findlay plant broke down late last year, yet the union has found other means of communicating its position. Tire Review reports that last weekend the USW held a “day of action” that involved protest at numerous tyre retailers that sell Cooper products. The union distributed information about “Cooper Tire's unfair and illegal lockout” of workers at the plant.

17th January 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

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.

11th January 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

No new future talks, workers angry at USW

Despite numerous reports that both sides were headed to a meeting with a federal mediator next week, it appears now that there will be no further negotiations between Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and locked out USW workers at the tyre-maker’s Findlay, Ohio, plant, Tire Review reports. After both sides clearly stated that they would return to the bargaining table after the holidays and that a session with the mediator had been scheduled for 12 January, that supposed meeting was suddenly called off yesterday, with Cooper claiming that no such meeting was even scheduled.

6th January 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Stalemate over Cooper’s Findlay plant continues

Tire Review reports that the Christmas and New Year's holidays brought no relief to the dispute between Cooper Tire & Rubber and its union-represented workers at its Findlay plant. Some 1,050 union workers remained locked out through the holidays, and Tire Review indicates the two sides will take their stalemate to a federal mediator this week.

4th January 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Locked out Cooper workers still await union strike fund aid

Even as a few hundred residents of Findlay, Ohio and locked-out Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. workers held a “community rally” this past weekend, Tire Review opines there may be some cracks appearing in the stalemate between the USW union and the tyre maker.

20th December 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

USW takes Cooper Findlay fight online

Contract negotiations at Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Findlay, Ohio plant are still ongoing, and US publication Tire Review reports the United Steel Workers union has launched a website to garner support for Local 207L members by signing a petition to send to Cooper Tire executives. The site, stopcoopertire.usw.org, also includes a video featuring locked-out workers and it encourages visitors to make a monetary donation, though it doesn't say what the money goes toward.

19th December 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Former Cooper Albany workers back on the job

Workers made redundant in 2009 when Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. closed its plant in Albany, Georgia are back at work with the company, Tire Review reports. According to news from Albany television station WALB-TV, the ex-Albany employees were among a group of temporary workers Cooper hired to operate its Findlay plant.

9th December 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Union files charges over Cooper Findlay lockout

On 6 December the United Steelworkers International union and its Findlay, Ohio branch, Local 207L, filed charges against Cooper Tire & Rubber with US government agency the National Labor Relations Board. The charges allege Cooper Tire committed “unfair labour practices in bargaining and imposing a lockout” at its Findlay tyre plant, the USW reports.

7th December 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

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.

5th December 2011/by Tyrepress Editors