Titan Tire Company has issued a deadline, telling striking workers that unless they reach agreement with the company by September first, talks will end. United Steelworkers Local 164 President John Peno says the workers are taken aback by the company’s move. And since restarting talks in March, Peno thinks they’ve made progress. He says the collective-bargaining agreement was mostly done August first and the back-to-work agreement’s been in the works since then. Peno says there are still some major issues to be resolved.He says even this week negotiators have been working on those issues and think they can solve them. Titan Tire Company president Morry Taylor this week said if a contract isn’t reached by the deadline, the company will put a six-year contract into place. That would mean six years before any more talks.The ultimatum upsets the strikers and they think it’s illegal. Peno doesn’t want to talk about details of the issues that remain to be solved, but thinks it’s possible to reach agreement by September first.
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