With the USW planning "day of action" protests at some 125 Cooper retailers on Jan. 14, TIA sent some information out to its members regarding both the union's and tiremaker's take on the event.
In an e-mail to members, TIA included "a posting from a United Steelworkers member promoting this action" and "a letter that was sent out to Cooper brand tire retailers." Below are those two communiques:
“USW Day of Action - Cooper Tires - January 14th
Good morning Brothers and Sisters, once again union rights are under attack. Cooper tire workers in Findlay, Ohio, USW Local 207 have been locked out and "Scab" workers have taken their jobs. We need to stand up and help our Brothers and Sisters in their fight.
Just a little background on what the local members are dealing with: in 2008 members gave up $31.2 million in concessions as well as taxpayers giving $2.5 million in subsidies since 2009 all to help deal with falling profits. The union members are willing to make sacrifices but are not willing to give the 40% wage cut that comes along with the new proposed production target.
Last year, CEO Roy Armes received $4.7 million and is expecting our members to take a cut. The top five executives took home more than $9.5 million last year and bought themselves a shiny new corporate jet. Sounds fair to me right? The company is wanting more even after reporting a profit of $140 million in 2010.
Let’s get together and help our Brothers and Sisters in Findlay get back to work under a fair contract. On Saturday, January 14th we will be holding a "Day of action.” This "day of action" will be taking place all across the United States as well as here in our local communities. The Spokane location will be at 7777 N. Division Street at the Tire Rama @ 10:00 A.M., and Discount Tire 8120 N. Division St. @ 11:00. We will also have a location in Coeur 'd' Alene Idaho at the corner of Appleway and Government way in front of Tire Rama @ 10:00 A.M.
At both locations we will be handbilling and picketing to get the info out to the public about Cooper Tires. We will not be boycotting the stores but merely trying to get the customers to think about buying another brand of tires such as union-made Goodyears.”
Cooper Tire Letter
“As part of the USW's protest against the lockout of the USW workers at Cooper Tire's Findlay plant, the USW has communicated an intention to picket Cooper customer businesses on Saturday, January 14th. We believe there will be a nationwide effort by the USW to picket for a couple hours between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The protests would be manned by local USW members, not necessarily familiar with the details of the labor negotiations. They will be armed with handouts like the one attached.
There have already been protests held at a few Cooper customers earlier this month. Although an inconvenience and distraction to you and your customers, all protests so far have been peaceful and off of the customer's property.
We apologize for this activity.
To assist you in dealing with the potential inconvenience, we would like to communicate to you some guidance concerning this activity:
As long as the USW (i) is on public property, (ii) does not defame Cooper, its product or your business, (iii) does not interfere with your business, and (iv) does not engage in a secondary boycott, their activity is legal. But, if these conditions are not met, there may be recourse. More specifically:
• The USW can peacefully picket and handbill on public property (subject to compliance with local ordinances, and provided that the number of picketers is reasonable in size). The USW has no right to conduct these activities on the customer's premises unless the customer consents, or to do so in a way that is designed to impede access to the store or otherwise interfere with the business. If the union does this, the customer can bring trespass charges against the picketers/union and have them removed.
• The USW can use signs, handbills, verbal and other means to communicate and advocate their position against Cooper. It cannot make false or defamatory statements. Please be vigilant for any false or defamatory statements, particularly statements about our products.
• The USW can encourage customers and consumers not to buy our products due to the labor issues. They are not allowed to (i) otherwise impede our customers' business, (ii) encourage consumers not to do business with our customers, (iii) encourage our customers' employees to take a work action against the customer due to its relationship with us, or (iv) otherwise threaten or coerce our customers in order to get them to stop doing business with us.
Please let us know of any activities that may cross the line (including the above, other threats, mass picketing, etc.), or of any suspicious activities (such as employees not showing up for work under suspicious circumstances or it appearing that customers are being turned away).
As you may know, we have been operating our Findlay plant under a contingency plan so we can continue to provide quality products to our customers. We are operating the plant using select temporary workers – many of whom have tire building and tire manufacturing experience – and we are extremely satisfied with their attitude, qualifications and work product. The temporary workforce is also supplemented with increased quality supervision, seasoned leadership from our other plants, and salaried staff from Findlay. Between moving some equipment, rebalancing capacity and this temporary workforce, we are confident in our ability to continue providing the products and services our customers have come to expect.
Again we regret this situation and inconvenience to your business. We appreciate your continued support during this time as it remains necessary for us to stand our ground to ensure we may competitively serve your tire needs in the future.
Sincerely,
Cooper Tire Sales and Marketing Team”