Bill is still a bitter pill

Unionization Attempts

1973 IUOE
1973 IBEW
1977 United Rubber Workers (URW)
1978 URW
1979 URW
1984 URW
1985 CLC
1986 CAW
1988 CAW
1994 CAW
1995 CAW
1999 CAW
2000 CAW
2006 USWA

[ 24 January 2006: Message edited by: CUPE_Reformer ]

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How many Michelin employees are members of the Steelworkers?

Thousands of Michelin employees at one tire plant in Canada (Kitchener, Ontario) and three in the United States are represented by the Steelworkers.

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It now appears Michelin is shifting work from the Kitchener plant to its non-unionized NS operations, putting over a thousand unionized workers out of a job in the process.

"Kitchener Tire Plant to Close," Toronto Star 2/2/06

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KITCHENER — BFGoodrich Tire Manufacturing is shutting an 1,100-employee factory in Kitchener and shifting production to plants in the United States.

The unit of global tiremaker Michelin said Thursday that manufacturing operations will cease July 22.

The plant in Kitchener, about 100 kilometres west of Toronto, produces BFGoodrich, Uniroyal and private-brand mass-market tires, mainly sold in the U.S.

“This segment has been contracting over the past several years and is also experiencing intense cost pressure due to imports from competitors in lower-cost countries,” the company stated.

Thursday’s announcement came less than a week after France-based Michelin said it would proceed with a $92-million expansion of its plant in Waterville, N.S.

Michelin, which has invested $1.3 billion in three Nova Scotia factories since 1968, said the Waterville plant will become the second-largest truck tire plant in Michelin’s global network, producing a new line of wide tires for heavy trucks.

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This is exactly the sort of BS that Walmart pulls, and IMO emphasizes the need to elect an NDP government in NS and repeal the anti-union Michelin bill immediately!

[ 02 February 2006: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

USW fights to save tire plant

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February 2, 2006
The United Steelworkers (USW) expressed “grave disappointment” via news wire reports after being notified of Michelin North America (Canada) Inc.’s intent to close its Kitchener, Ontario, facility (see related moderntiredealer.com news item).

Michelin stated that manufacturing operations will cease on July 22, 2006, which the union notes is the expiration date of the current contract.

“We’re extremely disappointed that the company intends to take this action without involving us in any discussions that lead up to this decision,” says Ron Hoover, USW executive vice president. “I thought we had a better relationship than this.”

(In an exclusive interview conducted by Modern Tire Dealer’s Senior Editor Mike Manges for the January issue, Hoover said he felt the union had a “better than good” relationship with Michelin. “They seem to be a company that you can work with,” he remarked. For the full article, click on ‘We’re not closing Steelworker factories: Union chief Hoover cites job security as top goal in 2006 contract talks’ in the Current Issue section of moderntiredealer.com’s home page.)

The news wire report says that the USW feels Michelin's claims that overcapacity in its mass market passenger tire production in North America is the reason for its decision is contrary to the current agreement, which was finalized in August 2004. That contract grants the facility plant protection status, provides its workers with a network of job security provisions and commits to investing the necessary capital needed to increase the quantity of higher quality, more profitable tires produced at the Kitchener plant.

“It is our intention to sit down with the company as soon as possible and explore every available option for saving the production at the Kitchener plant,” says Hoover. “The damage being done to the North American economy by cheap imports is something that needs to be addressed.”

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