Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. announced that the United Steelworkers of America Local 7521 has ratified a new five-year contract at the company's Texarkana, Ark., plant.
The new contract agreement brings to an end the strike at the plant which began at midnight on March 12, 2005. The plant employs approximately 1,700 production workers and produces 40,000 tires per day at capacity.
The first union workers returned to their jobs this morning, and plant operations will resume in phases over the next several days, reports the company.
The company earlier reported estimates that the negative financial impact of the strike during the first quarter ended March 31, 2005, was in the range of five to seven cents per share.
