Union, Yokohama approve 3-year contract

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/wb/xp-115487

Union, Yokohama approve 3-year contract
One of the provisions of the agreement is a company pledge that the Salem plant will stay in operation until at least 2010.

By Duncan Adams
981-3324

The United Steelworkers union local at Yokohama Tire in Salem and the company have reached a three-year contract agreement that includes a company pledge that the plant will remain open at least until 2010.

Local 1023 ratified the contract during votes Sunday and Monday, with 80 percent of those voting approving the new labor contract, said Mike Amos, union president. The previous three-year contract expired April 15. Union members have continued to work under its provisions during negotiations, which began in early March.

Yokohama Tire employs 900 people in Salem, according to the company. Amos said the union has more than 650 members working at the plant, which manufactures tires for light trucks and passenger vehicles.

In the domestic tire industry, union negotiations occur in sequence. Larger manufacturers and union workers employed by them go to the table first, establishing a pattern of sorts for subsequent negotiations.

Industrywide, negotiations in 2006 and 2007 between union locals and tire manufacturers have focused on issues including health insurance costs, retiree benefits and job security. Unions have demanded that manufacturers spend money on domestic factories as one protection against losing jobs to offshore manufacturers with cheaper labor costs.

FULL story at link.