Uniroyal, UAW Still Carrying On Talks In Effort To Reach Accord
7-24-67 [handwritten]
NAUGATUCK — Despite settlement between the United Rubber Workers and three of the “big five” in the rubber industry, negotiators were still seeking accord this morning between Uniroyal and the URW in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Uniroyal and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. remain the only firms who have not yet been able to reach an agreement with the URW. Talks reopened early this morning, according to a Local 45 spokesman here who was in contact with Union officials by telephone in Cincinnati.
More than $2 million in vacation checks will be distributed by the Uniroyal Footwear Plant Tuesday and Wednesday. Bargaining unit employes may pick up their checks at the Water St. gate between 9 a. m. and 4 p. m.
The company Friday said that it would go through with it’s scheduled three-week vacation at the Footwear Plant, which will begin officially next Monday, whether agreement is reached before that date or not.
Locals in Akron and Miami, Okla., voted Sunday to accept a new contract from the B. F. Goodrich Co., bringing the 94-day strike, longest in rubber industry history, closer to an end.
Negotiations with Goodyear and Uniroyal did not arrive at a settlement hoped for during the weekend.
Some 4,000 URW members jammed the auditorium of Akron University to shout approval of the new Goodrich contract. Local 5 in Akron has 4,900 members, almost half of the 11,000 employes covered in the contract.
Voice Vote Approval
In Miami, where the Goodrich employes have been back working since Friday, Local 318 approved the contract by a voice vote. Other votes from other locals arouns the country were expected today at URW international headquarters in Akron. A majority of locals must retify the contract before it is officially accepted.
General’s two tire factories, in Akron and in Waco, Tex., were expected back in full production this week, following the vote by Local 318 in Waco to ratify the contract Saturday. All 3,000 URW members in the General Tire factories have approved the contract.
Some 17,000 Firestone employes, in 11 locals in nine states, were to begin voting on their settlement today.
A majority of the more than 75,000 strikers, however, are still idled. About 22,000 of them have been out since April 20th when Uniroyal was struck. The 21,000 at Goodyear did not strike until July 14.
A Goodyear spokesman declined to make any comment about what was holding up negotiations.
They were also taking place in Cincinnati.
The settlements, when they are acheived, were expected to conform closely to the pattern already set.
The three settlements will all provide raises of 43 cents per hour to production workers, in steps of 15, 15 and 13 cents. The contracts will include a supplemental unemployment benefit plan giving laid off workers 80 per cent of their regular wages.
Under the old contract, tire workers averaged $3.68 per hour and non-tire workers $2.68. A pay raise differential between the two was eliminated in both the Boodrich and Firestone pacts. General employs no non-tire workers covered by the URW contract.
The settlements set an industry precedent by wrapping up wages, working conditions, pensions and other benefits in single three-year contracts. Traditionally wages and working conditions have been negotiated every two years, pensions and benefits every three years, in separate contracts with separate expiration dates.