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United Steelworkers of America Call for Resignation of Titan Tire CEO

4 November 1999

United Steelworkers of America Call for Resignation of Titan Tire CEO Morry Taylor in Wake of Disastrous Financial Report

    DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov. 3 -- Leaders of United Steelworkers of
America local unions representing Titan Tire workers in Des Moines, Iowa, and
Natchez, Miss., are calling for the resignation of Titan President and CEO
Maurice "Morry" Taylor Jr. following a disastrous third quarter 1999 earnings
report by parent company Titan International, Inc. .
    In late October, Titan International surprised Wall Street analysts with
its worst quarterly loss ever -- a loss of $5.9 million or $.28 per share.  On
Oct. 22, Standard and Poor's placed Titan's corporate credit rating and
sub-debt rating on its "Credit Watch" list.
    Twelve hundred workers at the two Titan plants have been engaged in what
the National Labor Relations Board has termed as an Unfair Labor Practice
strike due to illegal actions by management.
    USWA Local 164 President John Peno from Des Moines said, "Titan needs to
relieve Morry Taylor of his duties and bargain with us in good faith.  It's
the only way the company will survive."
    Peno, USWA Local 303L President Leo Bradley and USWA Executive Vice
President John Sellers representing the union's Titan International Council
released a five-page letter sent to Titan shareholders, analysts and lenders
about the company's condition.  The letter outlines Titan's 18-month decline
into financial ruin as tens of millions of shareholders' dollars were spent in
a failed effort to break the union workforce.  (A copy of the letter can be
found at the following internet web site:
http://www.uswa.org/news/TitanLetter102799.html.)
    Peno said, "It's time for Taylor, his managers and their army of
replacement employees to go, and to return skilled union members back to their
jobs."