QUINCY, Ill.—Titan International Inc. and the United Steelworkers have reached agreement on a new contract.
The pact was ratified by members of USW locals March 15 at Titan's three tire plants in Des Moines, Iowa; Freeport, Ill.; and Bryan, Ohio. Workers at the Bryan and Freeport factories had been without a contract for more than two years.
The new pact, which will boost pay and benefits, will cover the next four years, officials from both the company and the USW said.
"This is a good contract for Titan employees and shareholders," said Maurice Taylor, CEO and chairman of Titan.
He said the new pact provides workers a 6-percent increase over the duration of the pact. The percentage of the pay boost varies each year from plant to plant, but no increase in a given year is greater than 2 percent.
"Titan believes that it can offset these wage increases in better efficiency and utilization," Taylor said.
The Titan chairman added the company plans to add about 300 employees to its work force over the next few weeks to increase the output of tires.