FINDLAY, Ohio — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and United Steelworkers Local 207, which represents hourly employees at the tire maker's Findlay plant, have a new contract stretching into the fall of 2008.
After 5½ months of negotiations, the USWA local´s members approved the pact by a 466-344 vote on Feb. 11. The contract will run from Feb. 11 through Oct. 31, 2008. The previous deal expired Oct. 31, 2003, but was extended. The new pact provides wage and pension, cost-of-living allowances, a new medical plan, and probably most importantly to the union, job security language, said Local 207 President Frank Cline.
The agreement says 90 percent of the workers who were on the company payroll Jan. 31 will have jobs for the duration of the contract, Cline said. The union represents about 900 workers in Findlay, he said.
Workers in Findlay will receive wage increases of 6.8 percent over the life of the contract. The average wage in the plant is more than $26 per hour, Cline said.
The pension multiplier also will increase to $56 per month per year of service by the end of the agreement, he said. The multiplier will rise to $53 immediately, with $1 increases in subsequent years.