Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994                   TAG: 9409070030
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

YOKOHAMA WANTS VOTE ON ITS OFFER

Officials of the union's Local 1023 explained the proposal, which Yokohama termed its final offer, to workers at a meeting at the Salem Civic Center on Thursday. The workers indicated overwhelmingly that the terms were unacceptable without taking an actual vote.

The company said the revised offer contained significant improvements in wages and benefits, as well as changes that would help the company be more competitive. Union members have said the company's offer only restores what the company had tried to take away with an earlier version of the new contract.

The union's major objection, however, is the company's continuing insistence that more employees work on weekends so the plant can be fully operational seven days a week. Union members say wages are not an issue in the contract dispute.

Roughly 800 Yokohama workers have been on strike since the union's last three-year contract with the company expired on July 23.

"Unfortunately, the union seems unwilling to accept the reality that our Salem tire manufacturing center must be able to operate on a seven-day basis to be competitive in the industry," Richard Switzer, Yokohama's vice president of manufacturing, said. "All major tire manufacturers operate their key plants on a seven-day basis," he said.

The Salem plant is the sole factory of California-based Yokohama, a subsidiary of a Japanese corporation. Yokohama bought the Salem plant from Mohawk Rubber in 1989 and has invested more than $120 million in improvements and hired 300 more employees since then, Switzer said.