BY ALYSON KENNEDY AND GARY BOYERS
WOODBURN, Indiana - "If I have to lose my job for the cause of the future I'm willing to do it." That's how Cecil Sherrill, a member of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 715 with 18 years seniority at Uniroyal Goodrich's tire plant here, explained his outlook on the current strike in face of recent company threats to close the plant if a settlement is not reached.

Sherrill spoke to Militant reporters while doing picket duty at the plant's main entrance. He said he was fighting to preserve what the union had won for him, his co-workers, and his family over the years. Company officials sent a letter to striking workers dated December 6 threatening to close the plant if an agreement is not reached within a few weeks in the walkout that began October 24. "Whether or not this plant remains open is up to you and your bargaining committee," the letter says, according to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

Many workers expect a long fight. Although the first negotiations between the USWA and Michelin, the owner of Uniroyal Goodrich, in almost a month took place December 4, they went nowhere.

Militant reporters found strikers determined and in good morale. Many vehicles passing by picket lines honked their horns in solidarity. Terry Bourget and Dale Simmons were with a group of strikers next to the plant's rail line. Each had more than 20 years seniority, the bulk of it earned at Uniroyal's plant in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. That facility closed in 1992, and 140 workers there accepted job transfers to Woodburn.

"We gave up cost-of-living [raises], a week of vacation, some holidays, and had $30 taken out of our weekly checks. They said they needed to make plant improvements. In 1992 they shut down the plant anyway," said Bourget, a module operator. Simmons, a tire builder, explained that the $30 for "plant improvements to save jobs" continued to be deducted following the announcement of the plant shutdown, up until the final paychecks issued in Eau Claire.

While most of the Wisconsin workers transferred to Indiana moved to this area, a number of workers kept their homes in Wisconsin, rented apartments in the Woodburn area, and return home every two weeks or so. Bourget, Simmons, and two other strikers made the nine-hour trip to picket in northeast Indiana.

Local 715 president Ray Wiseman told the Fort Wayne News Sentinel that Uniroyal Goodrich wants to toss out written work rules and the discipline code. The bosses want the right to change rules as they please with no notice - even in the middle of a shift. Picket Dave Sorlie explained the discipline issue to the Militant. "The company's attitude on discipline is we are guilty until proven innocent. We believe we are innocent until proven guilty," he said. Wiseman said he suspects that management wants to weed out older workers, suspected "troublemakers," and union officers. The local president is currently contesting his own firing.

Pickets outlined some of the proposed new work rules to Militant reporters. One would prohibit workers occasionally trading shifts. Another would give supervisors control over workers' vacation scheduling, regardless of seniority. Last spring, workers were told they could no longer bring coffee or pop onto the job. The only liquid allowed would be water, and this would only be permitted from June through September, despite the extremely high temperatures on many jobs. Work rule changes around incentive rates and job classifications could cost workers as much as $5 per hour.

Only two of the 1,200 strikers have crossed the picket line. A December 5 meeting called by one of them, an electrician, to encourage others to do likewise was a miserable failure. Woodburn's mayor, a state senator, what the Journal Gazette described as "community members," and some strikers showed up - about 50 people in all. Several strikers that went voiced support for the union and many of them left before the scab's wife passed out memos explaining how someone could resign from the union and thus avoid the fine assessed for crossing the picket line. No one volunteered to scab. Eleven northeast Indiana United Auto Workers locals and other AFL-CIO members donated $9,642 to Local 715 during a support rally December 8.

Gary Boyers is a member of USWA Local 1299 in River Rouge, Michigan. Lisa Potash and Jay Ressler contributed to this article.  
 
 
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