ICEM Turkish trade union affiliate Lastik-İş made
good on its 8 May strike notice by calling 4,000 tyre manufacturing
workers out at four factories, operated by three multinational tyre
companies. The strikes began late on Saturday, 31 May.

Negotiations continued until the early morning hours of that day, with
the employers’ association offering last-minute wage and social payment
proposals to avert strikes. Those offers were presented to
rank-and-file members of Lastik-İş, but were rejected by an
accumulative 80% vote.

Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan

The strikes then began at factories of Bridgestone
Brisa Sabanci and Pirelli, and two plants operated and majority- owned
by US-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The four tyre plants are in
the Turkish cities of Izmit and Adapazari. The union and management
association has been negotiating since September 2007 on a new labour
agreement.

“The decision to strike was taken by workers and I believe we shall
overcome the employers’ intransigence,” said Lastik-İş President
Abdullah Karacan. “The salary offer made by employers is far from
meeting the work performed by tyre workers. Our decisiveness for
gaining our demands is resolute.”

The union is seeking a 12% wage increase for the first six-month period
of a two-year labour agreement, and the Turkish rate of inflation for
each six-month period thereafter. The tyre companies are resisting
inflation-rate payments for the three six-month periods. The two sides
differ also on various social payments customary in Turkish work
schemes.

Striking Rubber Workers at Pirelli Factory

All agenda items within the 59-article labour
contract, save for the wage and social payment items, have been agreed
upon by the two sides.

Goodyear operates an auto, light truck, bus, and heavy equipment tyre
plant in Adapazari, employing 800 rubber workers, and a truck, bus, and
agriculture tyre plant in Izmit, where 500 workers are employed.
Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, jointly owned by Japanese-based Bridgestone
and Sabanci Group of Turkey, manufactures auto, truck, and heavy
equipment tyres in Izmit, employing 1,500, while Italian-based Pirelli
has another auto and truck tyre plant in Izmit, in which 1,200 workers
are employed.