PITTSBURGH, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The
United Steelworkers (USW) today said that a delegation of
locked-out workers from Local 207L at Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.'s
(NYSE: CTB) Findlay, Ohio plant
and an international union representative are meeting this week
with leaders of Nezavisnost, the union that represents workers at
the company's recently purchased facility in Krusevac, Serbia.
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USW International President Leo W.
Gerard said that international solidarity is especially
important in the case of disputes with multinational employers,
where a direct link for sharing information can be helpful for
workers on both sides of the Atlantic.
"The only answer to global corporate greed is global union
solidarity," he said. "Cooper Tire management needs to understand
our commitment to justice here."
"The company locked out 1,050 workers in Findlay, Ohio," Gerard said, "but our fight is
anywhere and everywhere the company does business until our members
are back to work with a fair contract."
In a letter last month, after the company announced its plans to
purchase a tire plant in Serbia, Nezavisnost President Milorad Panovic called upon the company to end
the lockout in Findlay and pledged
support for Cooper's locked-out U.S. workforce.
Meetings will be taking place throughout the week in Serbia, and
initial discussions will revolve around the unions' common issues
with Cooper and how workers in both countries can best support each
other.
USW Local 207L represents Cooper's hourly workforce in
Findlay, while another USW unit
represents Cooper employees in Texarkana,
Ark.
The USW represents about 850,000 working men and women in
the United States and Canada in a wide variety of industries,
ranging from glass making to mining, paper, steel, tire and rubber
and other manufacturing environments to the public sector, service
and health care industries.
More information, contact: Tony
Montana, USW – 412-562-2592
SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)