Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150054
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Local 1023 of the United Rubber Workers union placed its own half-page reply in today's Roanoke Times & World-News, accusing Yokohama of unfair treatment and asking Roanoke Valley residents to support the union in its battle against the manufacturer.
Wayne Friend, president of the local, said the union has "no desire or intention of getting into a word battle with [Yokohama] in the paper." But Friend said the community deserves a response from the union to the Yokohama ad.
The union has been on strike at Yokohama since July 24,when its last three-year contract with the company expired. The major issue keeping the two sides apart has been the company's desire to add another 175 workers to the 150 already eligible for weekend work by making all workers hired since January 1984 eligible for weekends.
Yokohama, in its ad, sought primarily to explain why the company says that any new contract with the union must satisfy the company's desire for more weekend work. The company says it has to operate its plant fully on the weekends to be competitive with other tire makers.
The union says in its ad that the company already had the right to run the plant on Saturday and Sunday under its old contract by hiring workers especially for the weekends.
"The union is not trying to prevent the company from going to a seven-day operation, but we want it to happen with the least amount of disruption to our members' lives," the union's ad says.
The union ad also challenges the company's position that its offer of a $2.50-an-hour increase in wages and benefits is similar to packages recently accepted by workers in other tire companies. Yokohama workers earned an average of $26.63 an hour in wages and benefits under their old contract. The union said that is $8.85 an hour less than Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. workers make under their new contract.
Other unresolved issues, according to the ad, include vacations for weekend employees, use of summer employees to perform union work and productivity requirements for overtime work.
The company made what it called its final contract offer to the union Sept. 1 and the union rejected it without a vote of the membership. Friend said no negotiations between the company and union are scheduled, but the union hopes to return to the table soon.
"It's hard on both of us, for the company and union, for our relationship to deteriorate to this," he said.
Asked who should take the first step to resume the talks, Friend said that at this point it would probably require the intervention of a federal mediator.
by CNB