12 July 1994: Bridgestone Firestone strike

On this day, 12 July 1994, around 4,000 workers at Bridgestone-Firestone tyres in Decatur, Illinois, Akron, Ohio, Noblesville, Indiana, Des Moines, Iowa and Oklahoma City walked out on strike. Workers were protesting against the introduction of 12-hour shifts, pay and healthcare cuts, cuts to unemployment and injury benefits and a two-tier workforce. The workers, members of the United Rubber Workers union, joined 1,600 URW members who had already walked out at Dunlop in Alabama. To fight back, Bridgestone-Firestone hired 2,300 permanent scabs to replace the strikers. After 10 months, the strike was defeated, and many of the strikers were not rehired.
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