[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 11, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S751-S753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                A MESSAGE TO THE JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, as I and a number of my colleagues spoke on the Senate 
floor this past Friday, we pointed out that a terrible injustice has 
been done to thousands of workers in my State of Iowa, Illinois, and in 
Ohio. It is an action that has ramifications not only for the other 
workers throughout our country, but for international relations as 
well.
  Mr. President, I just want to say that if there are people at the 
Japanese Embassy here in Washington who have their sets tuned in to the 
proceedings in the Senate, I ask them to turn the volume up and pay 
close attention to what I am about to say. I believe I am joined by my 
colleague, Senator Simon, from Illinois, we have a message for the 
Japanese Prime Minister who is in Washington today, meeting with the 
President of the United States. We have a very strong message for the 
Japanese Prime Minister. I hope that the people of the Japanese Embassy 
will turn their sets up and start to pay attention right now because 
this message is for the Japanese Prime Minister.
  The Bridgestone-Firestone Corp. is a Japanese-owned company. It 
announced it would permanently replace 
 [[Page S752]] over 2,000 of its employees currently involved in a 
legal strike over proposed major cuts in worker pay and benefits and 
over a worsening of working conditions.
  After earlier being hopeful that this lengthy strike would be 
successfully resolved through good-faith negotiations by both sides, it 
now appears that Bridgestone/Firestone has been acting in bad faith. 
This is irresponsible corporate behavior and it harms the United States 
of America.
  We take the floor again to address this issue because as we speak 
President Clinton is meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi 
Murayama, and I hope this message gets to the Prime Minister. Our 
President is meeting with him to discuss a number of important economic 
and international relations issues. We must improve our relations with 
Japan. Japan is an economic leader, and an ally of ours. Friendship and 
positive relations between our two nations is in the best interests of 
both countries and the entire world.
  Mr. President, nothing does more to undermine positive relations and 
good will between our nations than acts like that taken by Bridgestone/
Firestone. Here is a company that is profitable, whose workers have 
made it profitable by reaching record levels of productivity. Then they 
go and knock thousands of workers out of their livelihoods because 
Bridgestone/Firestone is not willing to abide by the same contract 
signed by their two largest American competitors.
  I want Prime Minister Murayama and his government to know how 
destructive these actions are, how it rips apart families and 
communities. These workers have given the best years of their lives to 
this company. They are highly productive, diligent, hard-working 
individuals. They took contract concessions when times were tough and 
the company needed them to remain in operation. Now that times are 
better, workers just want fair treatment from the company.
  Mr. Prime Minister, these are workers like Sherrie Wallace who 
recently wrote me after she and her husband lost their jobs. Let me 
just read from this letter from Sherrie Wallace, a worker at Firestone:

       When Bridgestone came to each of us asking for help because 
     we were not doing as well as the company needed to do, we all 
     did our best. They asked me for one more tire every day, and 
     to stay out on the floor and forgo my cleanup time. Not only 
     did I respond, so did each and every member of the URW. Not 
     only did I give them the one more tire per day they asked 
     for, I gave them three times what they asked for. Our 
     production levels soared. We threw ourselves into our company 
     believing that we all must succeed together in order to 
     create a better way of life for all. The membership joined 
     committees and we became involved and we gave them our 
     hearts. We began to believe this company was different. We 
     gave them our input to create a better working environment. 
     To increase productivity we began to meet our production 
     levels. We were proud of our company and our union. Together, 
     we did make a difference. It is these things that make me 
     wonder why does Bridgestone now demand such unreasonable 
     demands?

  In return for their increased productivity, workers are being asked 
to take a 30-percent cut in the introductory wage, cutting out four 
holidays, bunching up all their holidays at Christmas time, cuts in pay 
rates for work on Saturdays and Sundays.
  I asked my staff, Mr. President, to compare what the workers in Japan 
were getting in Bridgestone Corp., compared to workers in America. I 
think you will find this pretty startling.
 In Japan Bridgestone union employees average annual wage is $52,500 a 
year, for the Bridgestone union employees in America, their average 
wages are $37,045 a year. The average monthly hours in Japan? One 
hundred fifty-two hours. In the United States? One hundred ninety-eight 
hours. Not only are our workers working more, they are getting paid 
less. Now, what the company says they want them to do is two shifts a 
day, 12 hours on, 12 hours off. They want them to work a crazy quilt 
work schedule. They would work three 12-hour days, then have 2 days 
off; then 2, 12-hour days, have three days off; then they work two 12-
hour days, have 2 days off. Try to map out a schedule for your family 
life on that. It would be worse than the U.S. Senate. Workers would not 
know when they would have days off during the year.

  In Japan, same company, same employees have three shifts, eight hours 
a day, and they rotate those shifts. The company says no, what is fair 
in Japan is not fair for our workers in America.
  So, Mr. President, workers increase their productivity tremendously 
at this company. All the statistics show it. At Goodyear Tire & Rubber, 
they had a contract dispute last year, they settled it, setting the 
contract pattern for the rubber industry in this country and they moved 
ahead. Now what Bridgestone-Firestone is doing is saying they can beat 
their major competitors in America by squeezing their workers a little 
harder. Well, I do not think any company ought to gain a competitive 
advantage at the expense of its workers.
  The United Rubber Workers have offered proposals through the Federal 
Mediation and Conciliation Service and the company refused to 
negotiate. This refusal is a refusal of the basic tenant of labor-
management relations of collective bargaining.
  How much time do I have remaining, Mr. President?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Inhofe). The Senator has 14 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I will take a couple more minutes, but let 
me yield to my colleague from Illinois because I know his workers in 
Illinois are facing the same kind of situation as ours are in Des 
Moines, IA.
  Mr. President, I yield at least 5 minutes to the distinguished 
Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Iowa. I thank him 
for his leadership on this.
  When he mentioned the States that are affected, he should have 
included Oklahoma, which is the State of the Presiding Officer. The 
Japanese Prime Minister is here today to create good will for his 
country, and I hope he has a very good visit. However, it is 
appropriate that we let the Japanese Prime Minister know right now here 
and clearly, that one of the Japanese-owned corporations in this 
country is creating ill-will in this country, and is not doing any good 
for United States-Japanese relations.
  In addition to the comments of my colleague from Iowa, I would point 
out that the Secretary of Labor asked to meet with the chief executive 
of the Bridgestone-Firestone Co. here in the United States.
  He refused to meet with the Secretary of Labor to talk about this. I 
have a wire service story in which Secretary Reich is quoted as saying:

       I consider this outrageous, quite frankly. Japanese 
     companies in this country have a sterling record of social 
     responsibility, in general.

  And I think that is correct. Most Japanese corporations in this 
country have an excellent record. This company is refusing even to meet 
with the Secretary of Labor. I have never heard of an American 
corporation or a corporation in this country refusing to sit down with 
the Secretary of Labor.
  The company said:

     * * * it would be happy to send Charles Ramsey, its chief 
     negotiator--

  Only they are not negotiating.

     to meet with--

  The Secretary of Labor.
  That is like sending an errand boy. The Secretary of Labor ought to 
be able to sit down with the person who is making the decision.
  This is only the third time, I am told, since the early 1930's when a 
major corporation--and that includes major corporations in the United 
States of America, with the air traffic controllers being one of the 
three--this is the third time we have had a permanent replacement of 
strikers of this magnitude.
  Our whole tradition is against it. It is very interesting that this 
Japanese-owned corporation cannot do in Japan what they are doing in 
Oklahoma and Illinois and Iowa and Ohio and Indiana. It would be 
illegal for them to do it in Japan, and they are doing it here, 
contrary to our traditions. It is illegal to do it in Canada or all of 
Western Europe, except for Great Britain.
  I think that the company is making a great mistake. I have been 
around public life for a while--I am 66 years old. I have observed a 
little, and I have noted when this pendulum swings too far to one side, 
pretty soon 
 [[Page S753]] the pendulum is going to swing too far to the other 
side, and that is the danger in labor/management relations in this 
country. It is a danger for Bridgestone/Firestone.
  I heard my colleague from Iowa say the other day that he would not 
buy any Firestone tires. Believe me, I am certainly not going to buy 
any Firestone tires, and I think there are going to be a lot of people 
in the United States who are going to feel the same way.
  The sensible thing is to sit down and negotiate. I have, Mr. 
President, over the years been involved in some labor/management 
negotiations. Sometimes it gets tough, but getting people together 
around a table, sooner or later--a little bit like a conference 
committee between the House and the Senate--sooner or later you get 
something worked out. That is what Bridgestone/Firestone should do, not 
dismiss 2,300 employees. They ought to sit down and try to work things 
out. That is the American tradition.
  I note that the Wall Street Journal, in an article about the chief 
executive of Bridgestone, refers to him as a bulldog, that he is a born 
gambler. Well, he is gambling with something that is very important. He 
is gambling with his company's future. He is gambling with labor/
management relations in this country. He is gambling with the lives of 
2,300 workers and their families. I hope common sense prevails, and I 
hope the Japanese Prime Minister gets the message that we who have 
spoken on the floor of the Senate have nothing but good will toward 
Japan. I respect that country. I might add, I grew up in the State of 
Oregon--something I do not stress in the State of Illinois--but I grew 
up in the State of Oregon. My father was a Lutheran minister and, in 
1942, stood up when Japanese-Americans were taken away from the west 
coast. That was my first real experience in civil rights. I was 13 
years old then. I remember the hostility that my father received on 
that occasion.
  I do not want to sour United States-Japan relations. I want an 
improved relationship. I think the Japanese Prime Minister would be 
wise to get a message to the chief executive of Bridgestone: sit down 
and try to iron this thing out.
  I yield back my time to my colleague. And, again, I thank him for his 
leadership on this.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, how much time do I have?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Six and a half minutes.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from 
Illinois, again, for his strong support for trying to inject some 
sanity and some reasonableness into these negotiations to try to settle 
this strike at Bridgestone/Firestone.
  I want to say to my friends, whether they are watching in the 
Japanese Embassy, or to Prime Minister Murayama, I want to echo what 
Senator Simon said. The vast majority of Japanese companies operating 
in this country operate in a highly responsible, effective, 
compassionate manner with their workers. I have seen many of them and, 
in many cases, the workers are happier there than perhaps they are at 
other companies that are not Japanese.
  I do not want to cast Bridgestone's actions as something true of 
every Japanese company. That is not true. Senator Simon is right on the 
mark with that. For some reason, this seems to be some kind of a rogue 
company. But it is always that bad apple that can spoil the barrel, and 
that is what Bridgestone/Firestone is going to do. They are going to 
color with their insensitive, outrageous behavior all the other fine 
Japanese corporations that are doing a good job in this country. I 
would hate to see that happen. I know the Senator from Illinois would 
hate to see that happen, too.
  That is the message, I think, that we want the Japanese Prime 
Minister to take back with him. It is not just this one company and you 
can ignore it. This will have ramifications over and beyond just that 
one company.
  Mr. President, I read from the letter from Sherrie Wallace who worked 
at Firestone 33 years. Her husband also worked there. Let me read one 
final paragraph. I will not read the whole letter. She said:

       You see, we are one of those families that both husband and 
     wife work at Bridgestone/Firestone in Des Moines, IA. We both 
     have lost our jobs, our benefits and our livelihood. We have 
     had days and nights of no sleep, wondering where our life is 
     heading. Trying to keep the ``American Dream'' alive with 
     dignity, conviction to stand up for what you believe in and 
     hope.
       Please hear our plead for help. * * * Over 25,000 
     employees, spouses and children will be affected by this one 
     * * * incident.

  So, Mr. President, I hope that the Japanese Prime Minister will heed 
this.
  As I pointed out last year, Goodyear Tire and Rubber reached an 
agreement with its workers, and they were chosen to set the pattern for 
the industry. Well, they did. Now Bridgestone/Firestone has come in and 
said they want to break that pattern.
  One can understand if, in fact, the workers are not productive, but 
as Sherrie Wallace pointed out in her letter, they have become highly 
productive. In fact, in March 1994, workers at Bridgestone/Firestone 
U.S. reached a new high of 80.5 pounds per man-hour and set an all-time 
record for pounds warehoused, and the company boasts that it did it 
with 600 fewer workers.
  So it is not a problem of either they are not making money or that 
the workers are not productive. Just the opposite is true.
  What Bridgestone/Firestone is saying effectively is that their 
workers are no more than pieces of machinery, to be used, depreciated 
and then thrown out on the trash heap without any concern for their 
families or years of service.
  But there is an option, and let this be the final warning to 
Bridgestone/Firestone. I will read a letter to the editor of the Des 
Moines Register by a farmer by the name of Joe Weisshaar:

       A quick inventory tells me that my tractors, trucks, 
     wagons, combine and cars roll on more than 140 tires. My vow 
     to Bridgestone/Firestone is that if this strike is not 
     settled within 30 days, I will never buy another tire made by 
     them.

  That is just one farmer's view from the State of Iowa.
  I guess that ought to be the message sent to Bridgestone/Firestone. 
Our consumers have a choice, and if we have to and if Bridgestone/
Firestone will not settle this in a decent manner, if they will not sit 
down, if they will not even speak to the Secretary of Labor, then maybe 
what the people of this country ought to do is just start rolling along 
another brand of tires.
 And Bridgestone-Firestone ought to know that we have that option.

  So, Mr. President, I urge the Japanese Prime Minister to take the 
message we are sending back to the head of Bridgestone/Firestone, urge 
him to reconsider his unfortunate decision, and to reopen in good faith 
negotiations with their workers. It would not only be in the best 
interests of the workers and their families and communities, but also 
the relations between our nations and the good will that is so 
important to maintain.
  Mr. President, I yield back whatever time I have. I note the absence 
of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 10 
minutes in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
  

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