From Akron Beacon Journal
CANTON, OH — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Thursday asked President Bush to help settle the dispute that threatens to close Timken’s three bearings plants in Canton.
The Canton Industrial Bearing Complex includes the plant where the president promoted his tax-cut plan last year. Kerry said Bush should urge the Timken Co. and the United Steelworkers of America Local 1123 to accept a federal mediator to help settle their disagreement.
Timken Co. spokesman Jason Saragian said there is no role for a federal mediator because there is no deadlock in bargaining.
The company and union have disputed what was occurring in a series of meetings that began in September after the company announced the plants were not competitive.
“It was the union who rejected negotiations with the company,” Saragian said.
“We’re confused by Senator Kerry’s suggestion as the company has consistently indicated it was willing to negotiate all issues with the union,” Saragian said Thursday. “This is a business issue, not a political issue,” he said.
The union has insisted that Timken never said what it wanted during a series of meetings that began in September. Timken announced last Friday it plans to close the plants, which employ 1,300, because of a 27 percent drop in production over the past five years.
“The administration should exhaust every potential solution to prevent these jobs from being lost,” Kerry said. “Federal mediation was created to help resolve situations exactly like the impending crisis in Canton.”
With Ohio cited by many political analysts as an electoral prize — it has 20 votes — Kerry was putting Bush on the spot by suggesting he could intervene with Timken. Its chairman, W.R. “Tim” Timken Jr., is a major donor and fund-raiser for the Republican Party.
The company manufactures alloy steel and bearings for products from computer disks to oil rigs. No date was set for the closings, although Timken President and CEO James Griffith said the process could take two years. Timken plans to shift most of the Canton operations to other plants in the U.S.
Griffith said the union was told in September that a capital investment, changes in working conditions and a restructuring into focused factories were all needed if the bearings complex were to survive.
Canton officials said the closings by their biggest taxpayer will devastate income taxes and damage their ability to provide services.
In April 2003, Bush visited one of the Canton plants and told workers, “There’s too much economic uncertainty today.” The president said that his tax-cut package would improve the situation.
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