Titan Tire USW Reject Contract Offer !

Titan Tire union rejects pact but will resume work Sunday.Titan Tire employees enter Freeport's Masonic Temple for a meeting Monday, Dec. 20, 2010, about contract talks between the United Steelworkers Union and Titan Tire.

by:By Eric Petermann
THE (FREEPORT) JOURNAL-STANDARD

FREEPORT — Local members of the United Steelworkers Union employed at Titan Tire rejected the company’s contract offer Thursday, but its membership will return to work Sunday night. Morry Taylor, chairman and CEO of Titan Tire, announced Thursday night that the company would lift the current lockout at its three manufacturing plants in Freeport; Des Moines, Iowa; and Bryan, Ohio. The company shut down the plants when the previous contract expired and negotiations with the USW ended Dec. 17. Taylor said employees who return to work when the plant reopens Sunday night will be working under the terms of the new agreement, regardless of the union vote. “Des Moines approved the new contract, and Freeport and Bryan rejected it, which is what I expected,” Taylor said. Kevin Kirk, president of USW Local 745, said Thursday night that despite the outcome of the contract vote he expects union members to return to work Sunday. “We will not be implementing a strike action, and we’ve instructed our membership to return to work,” Kirk said. Active members of Local 745 cast ballots between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday. The union would not announce the exact outcome of the balloting, which involved 580 active members of Local 745.
Provisions of the Freeport contract have not been made public. In Des Moines, the Des Moines Register reported that the contract between Titan and Local 164 called for a wage freeze and a significant increase in employee insurance premiums. Titan locked out workers last Friday when negotiations from the three USW locals ended. Workers have been picketing at the plants since then. The USW and Titan began negotiations in September and were working on a contract that contained changes the company said it needed to regain profitability at its three manufacturing plants. Talks were extended to Dec. 17 after the original contract expired Nov. 19.

Editorial : I`ll say this, These Union Members have guts ! They are to be commended for their stand. Being on strike against these tyrants of today is almost like suicide. Thanks to Mike Stanley for this !