The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has set a hearing for after January 1 next year, to be held at the Adams County courthouse here, following its August ruling that Titan Tire Corp. owes back pay and jobs to workers who have been on strike at the Natchez plant since Sept. 15, 1998. The strikers are members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 303L.

Besides the unionists in Natchez, some 670 members of USWA Local 164 have been on strike at Titan's Des Moines plant since May 1, 1998.

The strike here began after Titan Tire International owner Maurice Taylor bought the Natchez plant from Fidelity Tire Manufacturing Co. in August 1998. Fidelity's parent company, Condere Corp., had filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and laid off hundreds of workers. Out of 500 union members who had been at the plant, less than 250 were working as of Sept. 4, 1998, the last day of work under Fidelity. Despite a court order to honor the previous labor contract with the Steelworkers, Taylor immediately began to go after the union.

Pursuing unfair labor practice charges against Titan Tire, the USWA won a victory when the NLRB found earlier this year that Titan and Fidelity Tire were "alter egos"--meaning that they shared the same equipment, customers, and managers. Titan therefore did not have the right to fire those who were working when it took over the plant without first negotiating with the union.

An administrative law judge will oversee the hearing, in which the NLRB, USWA, and Titan Tire will be able to call witnesses and present testimony. If the judge rules against Titan, the company can appeal the decision to a panel of NLRB judges and then to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

According to the November 24 Natchez Democrat, the NLRB complaint against Titan charges that "in August 1998, Taylor threatened to fire employees, lower wages, move the work to another plant, or close the plant because of employees' involvement with the union; that Taylor asked employees to remove the union as their collective bargaining representative in August 1998; that since November 1998, Titan refused to give the union requested information about pay rates and hiring dates for production and maintenance employees; that Titan refused to give the union information about contractor Mark E. Mason; and that Titan refused to give the union information about daily production at the plant." Mason was furnishing Taylor with scabs.

Taylor, whose brazen union-busting tactics and rhetoric have helped harden Steelworkers in their long fight, thumbed his nose at the complaint, calling it "laughter in its highest extent." A few weeks before the complaint was filed, he referred to NLRB regional director Curtis Wells as "brain dead and dumb."

Taylor filed a lawsuit in late September against the USWA, under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), seeking "damages" of $240 million from the union (see last week's Militant).

Striking workers from both the Des Moines and Natchez plants traveled to Las Vegas in early November to draw attention to Taylor's union-busting actions at an International Tire Expo, a large trade show that drew thousands of automotive equipment manufacturers, distributors, and dealers. In October, Titan strikers were joined by Steelworkers locked out at AK Steel in Mansfield, Ohio, for actions in Detroit aimed at gaining support for their fight.

According to the October 25 Solidarity News, available on the USWA web site, Titan strikers also joined with Teamsters, auto workers, Newspaper Guild members, other USWA members, and other unionists in the area in a 500-strong march to back janitors on strike in Southfield, Michigan.

USWA Local 303L members maintain round-the-clock pickets at the Natchez plant. Their determination is expressed by strikers on the picket line and at the union hall. "It's very important that the Steelworkers stand up, which is what we're doing," striker James White emphasized. "The union is stronger because of this fight. We have more solidarity, more people standing together. Before the strike, you couldn't see that, but now you can."

Susan LaMont is a sewing machine operator and member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees in Centreville, Alabama. Brian Taylor, a textile worker, also contributed to this article.  
 
 
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