**Date:** 1967-07-25
**Source:** Established 1885
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With four of the “Big Five” rubber companies settled with the United Rubber Workers Union, prospects for an early settlement between UniRoyal, Inc. and the union look particularly good today.
The annual three-week vacation shutdown of the UniRoyal plants throughout the nation–this Friday.
The firm began distributing vacation checks this morning to some 4,500 local UniRoyal employees who are members of Local 45, URW.
At the same time, UniRoyal officials are asking workers if they would be willing to work during the vacation shutdown, in the event the strike is settled.
during the vacation. It is not known what response the firm is getting to the request.
Many workers have scheduled trips during the vacation shutdown and wouldn’t be available for work, should local production lines start up. For this reason, company officials are asking workers what week or weeks they would be available for work.
The company received co-operation from officials of Local 45, George Froehlick, president, is involved in negotiations in Cincinnati, Ohio.
A reliable source said this morning that apparently no negotiations are being held up in Ohio on non-wage issues. UniRoyal Royal said today that the firm “has offered the United Rubber Workers proposals which match the settlements achieved in their negotiations with Goodrich and Firestone last week.”
To date, the URW has not seen fit to accept the UniRoyal proposals and continues to press demands on a number of issues which involve the right to “manage” a high-level source said.
Although the company did not officially disclose the issues preventing settlement, one knowledgeable source said one of the issues is a demand by the union for a differential in pay increases for certain plants.
URW International President Peter Bommarito is currently participating in the negotiations with UniRoyal in Ohio. He actively took part in settlements with the other members of the “Big Five” and his participation is thought to have hurried settlements in the other four firms.
UniRoyal, Inc. today issued a statement telling of diminished net profits of the firm due to the strike.
The strike, involving more than 70 per cent of the domestic operations of UniRoyal, Inc. which started April 21 and continues, caused net profit for the second quarter of 1967 to drop to $1,551,000, compared with $14,309,000 in the same period last year, a decline of 89.2 per cent, the company announced today.
Earnings for the quarter after provision for dividends on the preferred stock were two cents a share of common stock compared with $1.06 a share in the same quarter of 1966.
Sales for the second quarter totaled $321,875,000, which were 7.7 per cent lower than the $349,164,000 in the same quarter a year ago.
For the full half-year ending June 30, net profit was $11,100,000 or 53.3 per cent below the $24,061,000 in the first half compared with $1.75 a year earlier.
Sales for the six months came to $636,663,000, compared with $667,050,000 in the previous year, a reduction of 4.5 per cent.
The 55-day-old strike has caused the firm to offer the United Rubber Workers a differential increase, the source said.
The offer of the differential is local, the source said. One of the main issues of the 55-day-old strike has been the union demand for the same hike for non-active workers as the workers. The above demand for a pay increase differential is in direct contrast to previous demands for the same pay increase for all workers, if the source is accurate.
URW International President Peter Bommarito is currently participating in the negotiations with UniRoyal in Ohio. He actively took part in settlements with the other members of the “Big Five” and his participation is thought to have hurried settlements in the other four firms.