Titan Tire has stopped work at three plants in Illinois, Iowa and Ohio amid contract talks with union members as of 11 p.m. Friday. The plants employ about 1,000 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union, with 500 of those in the Freeport IL plant.
Titan has been in negotiations with the United Steelworkers USW union for several months. No agreement has been reached.
Morry Taylor, Titan chairman and CEO, confirmed the anticipated closing Friday afternoon and said members of the USW may vote on a new contract proposal sometime next week.
“It’s been a great negotiations, and there have been some good ideas, but now it’s time for USW members to decide”, Taylor said.
The union has criticized the company for locking out 1,000 of its members the week before Christmas. Jim Robinson, chairman of the union’s negotiating committee, called the lockout “completely unnecessary and entirely premature.”
Robinson says union members will vote on the proposed contracts on Thursday.
