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Cooper Tire Warehouse Workers Choose IBEW December 8, 2003 Cedar Rapids Local 1634 has 12 new members at a Cooper Tire and Rubber warehouse following a second National Labor Relations Board-ordered election. The December 3 election came nearly a year after a tie vote translated into defeat for the IBEW. After the first election, the National Labor Relations Board charged the company with an unfair labor practice for threatening to withhold bonuses to workers for voting for the union. The NLRB set the date for the December 3 election following the companys unsuccessful appeal in November. The new IBEW members are "warehousemen" who drive forklifts and load and unload trucks. They grew tired of unfair treatment on the job, said 11th District International Representative Frank "Tad" Gusta. A former Coralville, Iowa, Local 1634 shop steward who once worked at Rockwell Collins encouraged her husbanda current Cooper warehouse workerto reach out to the IBEW. "These guys organized for all the right reasons," said Local 1634 Business Manager Brian Heins. "They as individuals wouldnt complain about what was happening to them. They were always concerned about their co-workers. It was very inspiring and motivating for me to be around these people." Cooper Tire and Rubber has eight warehouses across the United States. The Cedar Rapids facility is the first to unionize, although its factory workers are represented by the Steelworkers, Gusta said Money was not the motivating factor for organizing; favoritism on the job and arbitrary changes to the company handbook alienated the workers, Gusta said. "Managers kept changing the rules, depending on who you were, which is typical," he said. Heins said he plans to start negotiating for a first contract early next year.
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