Tire Maker Begins Replacing Striking Workers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ Unable to resolve a six-month strike, Bridgestone-Firestone on Wednesday began permanently replacing more than 2,000 workers in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Oklahoma.

A spokesman for the Japanese-owned tire maker said it was time to "return to full production" and begin round-the-clock plant operations necessary to stay competitive.

"We regret that we have been forced to take this action but it is apparent that the URW (United Rubber Workers) still refuses to recognize our competitive needs," company spokesman Trevor Hoskins said.

Five hundred miles away, on a frigid Des Moines, Iowa, picket line, striking URW workers warmed themselves around a fire burning in a barrel and questioned whether they could be replaced.

"I don't think they can operate. It's going to take a long time before they can get people in there who are qualified to do that work," said Arlo Richardson, a machinist at the Des Moines plant for 28 years.

But the prospect of losing a job is still upsetting, said Jim Graham, a tire builder at the Des Moines plant for the past 37 years.

"We've been scared ever since we went out," Graham said. "We're scared for our families. We're scared for our jobs. But we're doing what we think is right. We're standing up for a decent living."

Tire plants affected by the strike are in Des Moines, Decatur, Ill., and Oklahoma City. An air springs plant in Noblesville, Ind., also was struck.

Strikers at a technical center in Akron, Ohio, who aren't involved in the production of tires, weren't affected by Wednesday's announcement, Hoskins said.

The permanent replacements represent more than half of the 4,000 workers who took part in the stoppage. Hoskins said 600 strikers crossed the picket lines and returned to their jobs. He declined to say whether another round of permanent replacements would be hired.

In November the company said its goal was to reach 50 percent production with temporary replacement workers.

Hoskins said negotiations became stuck on the union's demand that Bridgestone-Firestone accept a contract negotiated between the URW and Goodyear.

"The union has from the beginning of negotiations insisted that Bridgestone-Firestone sign a contract negotiated by a competitor to address that competitor's needs.

"We have repeatedly told the union that such a contract does not address the needs of Bridgestone-Firestone," he said.

Curt Brown, a spokesman at URW's Akron headquarters, said the company's timing couldn't have been worse.

"We heard about this while our bargaining committee was upstairs trying to figure a way to get things back on track," he said.

"We're going to continue to meet with federal mediators to address ways to resume bargaining and end the stoppage."

Sticking points include Bridgestone-Firestone's insistence its plants be able to run continuously; that workers be on 12-hour shifts; that employees begin contributing to their health insurance; and that newly hired begin at reduced wages.

Increases in salary would be tied to productivity and could range as high as 15 percent over the three-year life of the contract Bridgestone-Firestone proposed, Hoskins said.

Brown, at URW headquarters, said the proposal also meant workers could earn less in 1997 than they did in 1994.

Nashville-based Bridgestone-Firestone, the third-largest tire maker in North America, is the North American division of Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corp. Its other North American plants were not affected because some are nonunion and others are covered by separate contracts.

They are in Bloomington, Ill,; Cuernavaca, Mexico; Joliette, Quebec; Lavergne, Tenn.; Warren County, Tenn.; Mexico City and Wilson, N.C.

Sales in 1993 were $5.1 billion, with income at $6 million. That showing followed three years of losses which totaled $1.3 billion. Projected sales for 1994 are $5.45 billion, with profits projected at $10 million.

Copyright 1995
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.