
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994                   TAG: 9409120058
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

UNION SEES DISCORD SOWN

The president of the union at Yokohama Tire Corp.'s Salem plant on Friday accused the company of trying to drive a wedge between the union's leadership and its rank-and-file members.

Wayne Friend, president of Local 1023 of the United Rubber Workers, which represents nearly 800 workers at the plant, was upset with two moves made by Yokohama this week. The company sent a letter to the plant's workers and took out a full-page advertisement in Friday's Roanoke Times & World-News.

The company's letter to employees and the newspaper ad attempted to explain the company's position on the issue of weekend work - the main stumbling block in the way of a new contract. The letter also asked workers to make their views known to the union leadership.

Friend said the letter and ad are attempts to pressure union leaders to modify their opposition to the company's contract proposal. The company said last week it had made its final offer to the union, but union workers who heard it described during a meeting rejected it without taking a vote.

Friday's advertisement doesn't do anything to ease tensions between the company and union, Friend said. "It's not a goodwill gesture," he said.

The union doesn't "have that kind of money to waste," Friend said when asked about a response. The advertising shows the company is not really concerned about money, Friend said.

Local 1023 has been on strike at the Yokohama plant since midnight, July 23, when its last three-year contract with the company expired.

Yokohama is demanding that more union workers become eligible for work on weekends because, the company says, it needs to run at full production on weekends in order to get the most out of the $120 million it has invested at the recently expanded plant. It also says it needs to be competitive with other tire plants that already have full production on weekends.

Friend this week questioned these arguments. Friend said he has a company document that shows Yokohama makes $14 on each tire it makes before shipping and marketing charges are added.

Wages have not been an issue in the contract dispute. Yokohama said its proposed contract raises wages and benefits by more than $2.50 an hour over the contract's life.

The company wants to expand the number of workers eligible for weekend work by 175 people, those who were hired since Jan. 1, 1984. One hundred fifty workers who were hired since 1991 are required to work weekends.

by CNB