"We said Taylor had no place to hide," said Tom King, a veteran maintenance worker and member of Local 164. King was referring to Maurice Taylor, president and CEO of Titan Tire Corp. "He finally felt cornered enough after years of refusing to sit down and negotiate with the union to do just that."

Taylor's antiunion drive at Titan plants here and in Natchez, Mississippi, was met by solid strikes by workers at both plants. Workers in Des Moines were fighting against extensive mandatory overtime and two-tier wages, and for pension and health-care benefits for retired workers. In Mississippi, steelworkers walked out in September 1998, after Titan bosses refused to negotiate with the union after purchasing the plant from Fidelity Manufacturing Co. Taylor ran the Natchez plant with replacement workers until shutting it down completely.

In 1998 Taylor had refused to bargain with the union over forced overtime. Workers reported they were working 26 days straight, often for 12 hours a day, having two days off, and then working another 26 days. Titan Tire also wanted big health and pension benefit cuts.

On the day of the vote, USWA member Denny Wicker reminded this reporter of an interview 10 months earlier when he had said, "Taylor can't beat us because we are not going to lose even if we never go back in that plant." Nearly all of the 670 members of Local 164 had other jobs, Wicker said, and only 15 members had crossed the picket line. Wicker is one of the strike leaders who organized the daily picket lines at the plant for the last 40 months.

"I would call this a victory for the labor movement," he said. "It's not just that we have a contract, but the fact that Taylor said many times over the last three years that he would never sign a contract that gave us a pension. He said we could stay out for 10 years for all he cares. Every time Taylor opened his arrogant mouth and was quoted by the media," Wicker said, "our strike got stronger and solidarity in the labor movement increased."

A key aspect of the fight was what strikers in both cities did to reach out for support across the country, as well as mobilizing union members in each area to back the fight. "Without the solidarity from the USWA international, other labor unions and other supporters of their strike, it might have been a different outcome," said Wicker. He pointed to the financial aid, goods, and food the union received from supporters, including farmers who donated pork and spoke at their annual rallies. "We always got support from a layer of farmers who we met on the travels across the country at farm implement shows when we distributed information on the strike," he said.

At the September 3 Labor Day rally, one of the largest here in years, Local 164 president John Peno said serious negotiations with Titan Tire officials had resumed in August. A tentative agreement was announced September 7, and workers received a summary of the proposed pact shortly afterwards. On the day of the contract vote, most union members Militant reporters spoke to said the contract was likely the best they could get.

Under the terms of the five-year agreement, members of the local who want to return to work will be able to do so with all seniority rights and to the job assignment they were working on the first day of the strike. The new contract increases the probation period from 90 days to 120. Under the previous contract the company could force workers to work up to three seven-day weeks in a row plus five more days for a total of 26 days straight. The new contract, union members say, gives workers at least every other weekend off. No one will be required to work more than three 12-hour shifts in a row, or more than 60 hours in a single workweek.

Wicker said that the pension plan is a real improvement, given the fact that Taylor refused to even discuss the issue for more than three years. The new plan will operate through the Steelworkers Pension Trust (SPT) rather than the company. Titan will pay 95 cents for each hour worked to the SPT. Wicker estimated that around 190 members of Local 164 are eligible for a company pension, and believes that a majority will take it. Union members said that health insurance contributions demanded of employees will increase. This is also what some have encountered at other jobs they have worked during the strike.

Hourly wages will rise, beginning with $1.20 an hour immediately, with another $1.60 to be phased in over the life of the contract. Union members say the contract contains a provision guaranteeing wage increases. Under the 1995 contract, wage increases went into effect only if the company met certain profit goals.

According to USWA staffer Tom John-son, the Des Moines operation will be Titan's main plant for tires for large construction equipment and tractors.

"Just because we got a contract now does not mean that Taylor or the Titan company has changed," Wicker said. In the September 27 Des Moines Register, Philip Stanhope, a Titan Tire executive, was quoted as saying that strikers will have to pass a re-employment physical exam, and that Titan will "integrate" strikers back into the plant over time. Stanhope told the paper that no replacement workers will be laid off as a result of the agreement.

One union member who did not want his name to be used said the contract contains a "zero-tolerance policy," under which the company can discipline workers for "inappropriate behavior." The bosses can use that against the union, he said. That policy, plus a two-tier wage structure for workers hired after the strike that lasts for two years, and the fact that some grades will never reach full tier, will present a challenge to the union in winning over the scabs, he said.

Wicker pointed out that no matter what Titan boss Stanhope says, the company is obliged to reinstate any union members who want to work within 60 days of the contract ratification. Titan says it needs about 520 workers. With about 400 replacement workers currently inside and about 200 union members who want to go back, "some of the scabs will have to go," he said.

Wicker said that a civil lawsuit filed by Titan over a year ago, based on the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization act (RICO) and charging the USWA with "racketeering," was not settled as part of the agreement. The suit seeks damages of up to $720 million and names at least 90 members of Local 164. "We still have to fight Taylor on that one," Wicker said, "which is another reason we have to stay on the alert and continue to resist his harassment."  
 
 
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