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November 30, 2006
LINK ASSERTED BETWEEN TIRE DEFECTS, LABOR STRIFE
United Steelworkers members “forced out on strike” and replaced by temporary workers at fifteen Goodyear plants in North America are suggesting that the tires produced by the temporary workers “might be more likely to be defective than tires produced by union shop employees”. They base the warning on a Princeton study that found labor strife to be a contributor to defects in Firestone tires involved in the Ford/Firestone recall of 2002.
The study concluded that a disproportionate number of flawed tires were produced at Firestone's Decatur, Ill. plant during a 1994-96 labor dispute, compared to the rate before or after the dispute. During that time, the failure rate at Decatur also was higher than the rate at non-striking plants, and at a plant that had a strike but did not use replacement workers as Decatur did. They said engineering tests also pointed in the same direction.
Posted by MVHAP at November 30, 2006 07:22 PM