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The eBearing News
June 22, 2005
Steelworkers Reject Timken Contract Offer
copyright © 2005 eBearing Inc.
Members of United Steelworkers of America Local 1123 have voted down the contract offer
recently worked out with Timken. The agreement covers Timken's three troubled Canton-area bearing plants,
the steel plant, and a small contingent remaining at a steel finishing and warehouse operation in Wooster.
• article: USWA and Timken reach Canton contract agreement
( includes history and background )
Contract negotiations reopened 18 months early, in May 2004, after Timken announced it would be closing the three
Canton-area bearing plants as no longer competitive within Timken's worldwide array of manufacturing operations.
The three Canton-area plants are Canton Industrial Bearing, Gambrinus Industrial Bearing, and Gambrinus
Roller Bearing.
USWA leadership professed to be at a loss as to why the proposed four-year contract, which union leaders
endorsed unanimously, went down to
defeat -- 1,129 for vs. 895 against, out of approximately 2,800 eligible to vote.
A senior labor analyst told eBearing the no vote should have been expected, "It's just people venting
their frustration with the whole situation; they have plenty of time."
A year ago, Federal-Mogul faced the same situation when United Auto Workers-represented workers
at its Greenville, Michigan
bearing plant at first rejected a carefully developed contract offer, then agreed to accept
it as the contract expiration approached. UAW workers from a different Local at F-M's sister bearing
plant in St. Johns, Michigan, then rejected their first contract proposal, then quickly
accepted a slightly sweetened version.
With more than three months left on the existing contract, no one is expecting Timken or the USWA
will face any real problems getting the agreement ratified as the expiration date draws nearer.
eBearing heard from several Timken employees who said they felt the company's health care
and pension offers were below par, but the financial side -- 3% raises each year over the life of
the contract, and maintaining the COLA -- was in many ways more than they had come to expect.
There were some grumblings about job security provisions for the bearing plants not being part
of the steel plant package -- bearing plant workers could transfer to an opening in steel, maintaining
full seniority -- but most complaints centered around the health insurance package.
Under the contract offer, Timken would continue to pay 100% of workers' health care insurance, but
a 10% co-pay would be implemented and deductibles would increase to $1,000 individual, $2,000 family.
Workers said they realize that fully-paid health insurance is a rarity these days, but Timken's
financial strength should allow it to continue offering the benefit unchanged.
For its part, Timken reportedly agreed to invest at least $100 million in the steel
operations over the life of the contract, and $14 million in the Canton-area bearing plants.
Timken spokeswoman Denise Bowler said, "We're disappointed with the outcome. We expect to meet with
the union to determine the next course of action, but no meetings have been scheduled."
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- by Bruce A. Carr
from individual research,
tips and commercial sources.
Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
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eBearing.com ... for everything that moves™
Entire contents Copyright 1999-2008, eBearing Inc. All rights reserved.
eBearing.com and "... for everything that moves" are registered
trademarks of eBearing Inc.
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eBearing.com ... for everything that moves™
Entire contents Copyright © 1999-2008, eBearing Inc. All rights reserved.
eBearing.com and "... for everything that moves" are registered trademarks of eBearing Inc.
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