Some News on BFNAT, Union Talks

Little information has been available, other than the fact the two sides have been meeting in St. Louis.

In one of the few statements to come out – on Aug. 21 – the Steelworkers said BFNAT negotiators were seeking to “distinguish Bridgestone’s needs from those of Michelin.” The BFNAT negotiations team, said the union, “announced that the company needed a recess of at least a week to ‘cost out’ the agreement and to review other agreements with Titan Tire.

“We expressed our disappointment with this announcement since the company had access to the agreement for nearly a week and had already met with Goodrich (Michelin) officials regarding it. We further informed the company that we were fully prepared to negotiate. We made it clear that we will not tolerate a repeat of the delays we encountered last contract. We will return to St. Louis as soon as the company is prepared to negotiate. We remain hopeful of reaching an acceptable agreement but urge all of you to prepare for the possibility of a strike.”

Some observers expected that BFNAT would be the last to settle on a new master contract with the USW. Two weeks ago, Goodyear told the union that it would not settle on its new contract until BFNAT did. However, regardless of Goodyear’s position, it is doubtful that either the union or BFNAT feel any added pressure to reach an agreement quickly.

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