Locked-out Ohio Workers from Cooper Tire Meeting with Serbian Union Leaders This Week

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that a delegation of locked-out workers from Local 207L at Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.'s (NYSE: CTB) Findlay, Ohio plant and an international union representative are meeting this week with leaders of Nezavisnost, the union that represents workers at the company's recently purchased facility in Krusevac, Serbia.

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USW International President Leo W. Gerard said that international solidarity is especially important in the case of disputes with multinational employers, where a direct link for sharing information can be helpful for workers on both sides of the Atlantic.

"The only answer to global corporate greed is global union solidarity," he said. "Cooper Tire management needs to understand our commitment to justice here."

"The company locked out 1,050 workers in Findlay, Ohio," Gerard said, "but our fight is anywhere and everywhere the company does business until our members are back to work with a fair contract."

In a letter last month, after the company announced its plans to purchase a tire plant in Serbia, Nezavisnost President Milorad Panovic called upon the company to end the lockout in Findlay and pledged support for Cooper's locked-out U.S. workforce.

Meetings will be taking place throughout the week in Serbia, and initial discussions will revolve around the unions' common issues with Cooper and how workers in both countries can best support each other.

USW Local 207L represents Cooper's hourly workforce in Findlay, while another USW unit represents Cooper employees in Texarkana, Ark.

The USW represents about 850,000 working men and women in the United States and Canada in a wide variety of industries, ranging from glass making to mining, paper, steel, tire and rubber and other manufacturing environments to the public sector, service and health care industries.

More information, contact: Tony Montana, USW – 412-562-2592

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)