AKRON-Following a National Labor Relations Board ruling that Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corp. used unfair labor practices in negotiations with the United Rubber Workers, PATC recalled about 850 striking workers starting March 13 at its two plants. The recall came after the URW offered to unconditionally return to work.
On March 8, PATC laid off 600 of the 1,200 ``permanent replacement workers'' it hired during the last six months, according to union officials.
Although 1,080 union workers struck Pirelli plants in Hanford, Calif., and Nashville, Tenn., starting July 15, about 150 of them have since retired. In addition, the company discharged another 80 for alleged acts of violence during the walkout.
The recalled URW members will return to work under terms of the 1991 contract with the amendments made by the company July 13, 1994. Union members are cautiously optimistic, said Dave Hanna, vice president of Local 703 in Hanford.
``Certainly everyone is overjoyed at returning back to work,'' he said. ``The strike is over, and we go back just as we were when we walked out. But the general feeling is, `It's still not over.' We haven't reached an agreement.''
Steve Compton, an executive board member of Local 670 in Nashville, said the recall terms are better than Pirelli Armstrong's latest offers.
``The '91 agreement, as far as wages, was anywhere from 20 to 40 percent more than (Pirelli's) latest offer. And the benefits were tremendously better.''
Negotiations between Pirelli and the URW could again reach an impasse, and the tire maker could implement its ``last and final offer,'' providing the company bargains in good faith, said Frederick J. Calatrello, director of the National Labor Relations Board Region 8 in Cleveland.
A Pirelli spokesman confirmed the company is recalling the union workers and an undisclosed number of replacement workers had been ``released.''
The company, hoping to utilize some replacement workers as fill-ins for retired or discharged union workers, said it ``regrets that some of them will be without work as a result of this NLRB decision.''
PATC disagrees with the NLRB unfair labor practices finding, a spokesman said, but feels it would be too costly and time consuming to challenge the decision.