"During the last organizing drive I was on the other side," Fancher explained. "I was a member of the company committee to drive the union out of town. What convinced me we need a union was that the company kept cutting jobs and replacing them with contractors. Security, sanitation, and half the warehouse jobs are all contracted out." He said the company is "eliminating all jobs that older workers could hold as they approach retirement."

The plant of nearly 1,600 workers is one of the largest employers in this part of Oklahoma, midway between Dallas and Oklahoma City.

Michelin bought out Uniroyal Goodrich in 1990. Of the former Uniroyal Goodrich plants, three were organized by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in Tuscaloosa and Opelika, Alabama, and in Woodburn, Indiana. These are currently the only Michelin plants with a union in the United States.

The history of unionization campaigns at Ardmore goes back to 1976. The latest organizing drive began in September 1999; the process of collecting union authorization cards started in February. Well over the percentage required by law to file for a representation election has been collected at this point, but with 100–200 workers hired by the company in the past few weeks, union supporters are targeting this layer of young new hires to beef up their margin.  
 
Union supporters sign up new hires
In face of company attempts to restrict organizing activity in the plant, union supporters have taken their campaign into the community and surrounding towns as they seek opportunities to sign up prospective union members.

Danny Fancher, one of the organizers, prepared to attend this evening's Pioneer Days celebration in Lone Grove by wearing his union hat and numerous buttons pinned to his shirt and to the sling his arm was in from an on-the-job injury. He explained, "I go there looking like this to let everyone know where I stand." The last six cards were secured at a swimming party that usually follows the last night shift in a crew's rotating schedule. "Four of the six were from new hires," Fancher stated.

The fight to get recognition for the Steelworkers union in 1995 was met with a vicious campaign by the company and the local capitalist class. The Ardmore Chamber of Commerce sponsored an "All Out" public meeting at the city auditorium, with publicity broadcast over local radio stations. Of the nearly 100 people who attended, 70 drove down to the weekly meeting of union supporters and organized an antiunion rally outside.

The tables have turned in the current organizing drive. Attempts to organize union busting pickets have fizzled, despite the company allowing employees four hours off work to attend antiunion rallies and the issuing of three editions of antiunion T-shirts and hats.

The first week, only 26 managers, mostly retired, picketed the union meeting, and they were met by 80 union supporters who chanted "What do we want? Union! When do we want it? Now!"

"Twenty-five showed up the following week. Only two came the third week. They didn't even bother taking their signs out of the truck," said Kenny Potts, a mold changer with 27 years seniority and a veteran of the previous organizing drives.

Potts pointed to the negotiations between the USWA and Bridgestone/Firestone, whose contract expired April 23, as a concern among many union supporters. Although there is no national "pattern" bargaining, these talks are selected as a target that will set the standard for the tire industry.

"A favorable outcome in their negotiations will really help us," Potts said. "In the last organizing drive the company used the long strike at Bridgestone/Firestone against us here." The demands on the table by Bridegstone/Firestone include adding five years to the 30-year-and-out early retirement, eliminating two weeks of vacation, and introducing the hiring of temporary workers.

Members of USWA Local 998L from the Bridgestone/Firestone plant in Oklahoma City have participated in the past several organizing drives in Ardmore, according to Potts.

A weekly newsletter called The Workers Voice has been produced since February. It includes signed articles from union supporters and humorous cartoons depicting union solidarity and company deceit. Weekly women's meetings are held three times during the day on Tuesdays, and general meetings three times on Wednesdays to accommodate the various shifts.

The company attempted to depict the union as outdated and incapable of delivering by using the saying "This dog can't hunt" in its propaganda. In response, union supporters came up with a new logo for their T-shirts, which depict a muscular guard dog defending union gains such as pensions and retirement.

Enlisting the help of other unions in the area has been central to the union supporters' strategy. Labor groups have been contacted to enlist two workers from every local to meet any of their neighbors who work at the plant and explain the benefits of union membership.

At their April 26 meetings, supporters heard locked-out Kaiser worker Sam Horvath from Gramercy, Louisiana, talk about their fight. The company used the Kaiser lockout in its antiunion video. Horvath answered questions and won the support of the Ardmore fighters. In solidarity, 25 rubber workers took a bus down to the May 23-24 protest actions in Houston in support of the Kaiser Steelworkers.

A solidarity action is in the works for the end of summer. Union cards will be filed with the National Labor Relations Board close to that time.  
 
 
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