BY BETSY FARLEY
DECATUR, Illinois - After 10 months on strike against Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., members of United Rubber Workers (URW) Local 713 voted to take down the picket lines and make an unconditional offer to the company to return to work.

Local 713 president Roger Gates told the local media that ending the local's strike was recommended by international union officials following a negotiating session last week between the union and the company. "We have reason to believe there will be a decertification vote in a couple of months," Gates reported.

The 1,200 members of URW Local 713 who struck Bridgestone/Firestone were among 4,400 strikers at the company's plants in five states. More than 300 union members in Decatur have crossed the picket lines and are working in the plant alongside hundreds of "permanent replacement workers" who have been hired over the past several months.

"Last week the NLRB rejected the union's charges that the company committed unfair labor practices," explained URW Local 713 member Thom Welsh. "I hate to crawl back in there and work next to a scab, but it's something we had to do to block the decertification vote. If we don't offer to go back, the union people that stayed out will have no vote, only the line crossers and the scabs."

Gates delivered the union's proposal to company officials May 8. Bridgestone/Firestone spokesman Trevor Hoskins said the company is reviewing "how many strikers we can take back." So far, no former strikers have been recalled.

"If we could have kept people from crossing the line, this never would have happened," said strike activist Sue Watts, whose husband is a striker. "But most people felt this was something we had to do to keep the union intact."

But not all rubber worker members look at it that way. URW Local 713 member Harland Smith called the local's decision "an injustice to our brothers and sisters in the other locals on strike against Bridgestone/Firestone across the country.

"A proposal like this should have been discussed and decided on together. Hopefully it won't be a blow to the entire labor movement," he stated.

The former strikers who are called back will return to work under the company's "last and best offer," which includes a 7-day 12-hour work schedule, and increased expenses for medical benefits.

Locals in Noblesville, Indiana; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Des Moines, Iowa, remain on strike. Local 310 in Des Moines has had 350 of its 1,300 members cross the picket line. There are no plans to vote on whether or not to return to work at that local, however the union will hold informational meetings May 10 and 11 to discuss the latest developments.

URW Local 310 members will be joining other unions and community groups in a Mothers Day protest May 14 at the Iowa governor's mansion in Des Moines.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home