TRI-CON PLANT PRODUCES 100,000 CAR SEATS A YEAR

*Most of those seats are shipped to a plant in Flat Rock, Mich., for the Mazda 626 automobile; Mazda has been a customer for four years. A low volume of seats are sent to Chrysler.

Employment has remained steady over the past year at Tri-Con Industries in Cape Girardeau, plant manager Rick Roach said.

The plant, which opened in April 1983, has about 300 workers who produce nearly 100,000 car seat sets each year. That figure is close to what was produced in 1993 and Roach expects a similar number this year.

Most of those seats are shipped to a plant in Flat Rock, Mich., for the Mazda 626 automobile; Mazda has been a customer for four years. A low volume of seats are sent to Chrysler.

The most significant event last year at the Cape Girardeau plant for Tri-Con, the U.S. subsidiary of the Tokyo Seat Co., was the production workers' favorable vote last June to join the Amalgamated Clothing and Textiles Workers Union. The 240 eligible employees voted more than 2-to-1 for the union.

Roach, 38, has been with Tri-Con for six years. A former manager for quality control at the corporate office in St. Louis, he became plant manager just before the union vote.

Roach said nothing definite has been finalized in the first contract with the ACTWU. He believes that everything will work out in the negotiations.

Sam Lubke, first contract supervisor for ACTWU based in St. Louis, said it is not unusual to take eight months to sign an original contract with a company.

"We are starting from scratch in negotiating this contract," Lubke said. "It's the foundation upon which all other future contracts are based so it's very important to take our time to get the best contract possible."

Seniority rights for longtime employees and the grievance and arbitration clause, which will be used to mediate future disputes between employees and the company, are the foundations of a new contract, Lubke said.

The vast majority of the contract's language is finished, Lubke said. Local members of the bargaining committee have been involved in every negotiating session.

Lubke expects the negotiations to move toward economic issues soon, adding that the process could be completed within a couple of months.

Tri-Con's management and union representatives have treated one another with respect during the negotiations, Lubke said, and Tri-Con management has shown it wants to make the Cape Girardeau plant a better facility.

Lubke estimated the wage rate for the plant's production workers at $5.50 to $9 per hour, with the average around $7. One reason employees favored the union was that employees hadn't received a raise in three to four years, he said.

Roach said the first eight months as plant manager have been an experience with some trying times. His goal is to improve the operation.

His plans for 1995 include the improvement of internal processes and the plant's environment. To that end, he is trying to develop greater customer satisfaction for the products received and satisfaction among workers for the jobs they do.

Higher interest rates have a dampening effect on the plant's sales, which are directly tied to new car sales. Roach said he has seen the plant's volume drop slightly as interest rates have moved higher over the last few months.

The plant's change to teamwork sewing in 1992 has helped meet customer demands for quicker response times in product changes, Roach said.

The company is allocating an hour a week for training relating to leadership skills and achieving cooperation among team members. More emphasis is expected on the plant's philosophy to promote quality manufacturing.