Right in the middle of the lockout at a Cooper Tire plant in Findlay, OH, the company announced it will buy a tire plant in Krusevac, Serbia, for $17.4 million, and that it plans to invest an additional $32.6 million in Cooper Tire Serbia. United Steelworkers Local 207L President Rod Nelson accused Cooper of trying to obtain concessions from the Findlay workers to help finance the purchase, calling the purchase announcement a “smoking gun.” LRI president Phil Wilson refuted the union argument, acknowledging that such international purchases do not occur overnight. He did say that the timing of the announcement was likely no coincidence. “The timing of the announcement certainly doesn’t hurt the company’s leverage” in the Findlay contract fight, Wilson said. “Can Cooper produce well enough with temporary workers to outlast the employees? If it can, then it has no reason to return to the table,” Wilson said. “They are going to wait until people start missing paychecks.” “Until people start missing paychecks, they’re not going to give, either,” Wilson said.
