ICEM UPDATE

No. 76/2000

22 September 2000

The following is from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM):

BRIDGESTONE U.S. AGREEMENTS APPROVED

BIG GAINS FOR WORKERS AFTER GLOBAL UNION SUPPORT

New labour agreements covering more than 8,000 workers at nine Bridgestone/Firestone plants in the United States were overwhelmingly approved by union members in secret-ballot ratification votes over the past 10 days.

The master agreement between the tyre multinational and the United Steelworkers of America was expanded to cover seven Bridgestone/Firestone plants, and was approved by a nearly 4-1 margin. Separate agreements covering two other facilities were adopted by margins of 10-1 and 17-1 respectively. All three contracts expire on April 23, 2003, and negotiations for successor agreements will all take place in the same location.

Highlights of the master agreement include:

• Restoration of full cost-of-living protections. Coupled with general wage increases of 0.65 US dollars over the life of the agreement, the 100 percent cost-of-living payments could generate a total wage increase of 2.30 dollars per hour by 2003, based on recent inflation history.
• Pension benefits of 50 dollars per month per year of service at all locations. A worker retiring with 30 years of service would receive a guaranteed pension of 1,500 dollars per month, a 47 percent increase over the previous agreement.
• A nearly 700 percent increase in the early retirement supplement, from 50 dollars to 340 dollars a month.
• Extended supplemental unemployment benefits, which will pay workers with 10 or more years of service an additional 13 weeks of benefits at 80 percent of their average weekly wage once state unemployment benefits are exhausted. Workers with 20 or more years of service receive an additional 26 weeks of benefits.
• Significant improvements in health care and other insurance benefits with no employee contributions at any location.
• New language designed to preserve and expand skilled trades at Bridgestone/Firestone plants by limiting the companys right to subcontract maintenance work.
• Vastly improved health and safety provisions.
• Seniority improvements at all locations, giving workers greater control over their working lives.

The two other agreements are broadly similar.

The deals are a major success for the American union - and for organised labour in Bridgestone worldwide.

Bridgestone workers' unions on all continents had pressed the company to reach a US settlement, as had the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the USWA is affiliated at the global level.

Worldwide union support for the American workers was mobilised via the global network of unions in Bridgestone recently set up by the ICEM (see ICEM UPDATE 66/2000).

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ICEM
avenue Emile de Beco 109, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. tel.+32.2.6262020 fax +32.2.6484316
Internet: icem@geo2.poptel.org.uk

Editor: Ian Graham, Information Officer

Publisher: Fred Higgs, General Secretary.

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