CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (April 7)—Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. said it plans to appeal a decision by the National Labor Relations Board ordering the tire maker to bargain with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1634.
IBEW Local 1634 won a second union election last December at Cooper's Cedar Rapids tire distribution center, but Cooper insisted the second election was unwarranted. "We feel the results of the first election reflects the true beliefs of our employees," a Cooper spokeswoman said. The Cedar Rapids distribution center, she added, has only about a dozen employees eligible for union membership.
But Brian Heins, president of IBEW Local 1634, said the first election in January 2003 was a 6-6 tie, and accused the company of interfering with the elections, a charge that Cooper denied. "We're not going to sit still," he said. IBEW Local 1634 also organizes the 550-580 workers at Rockwell/Collins, an avionics and communications equipment plant in Coralville, Iowa.