Workers at Cooper Chengshan Oppose Acquisition by Apollo Tyres

Workers at Cooper Chengshan, a joint-venture between Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (USA) and Chengshan Group (China), are on a strike. They are protesting the proposed acquisition of the company by Apollo Tyres, a leading Indian tire manufacturer.

Cooper Tire declared on June 11 that it was going to sell eight factories worldwide to Apollo Tyres. While the largest transnational acquisition case in the history of the global tire industry appears profitable for both Cooper and Apollo, the deal has now run into problems as the trade union which represents workers at the largest, most profitable and fastest-growing factory of the eight, Cooper Chengshan, have expressed their opposition to the deal.

On June 27, six representatives of the trade union put their concerns to Hal Miller, the president of the Cooper's International Tire Division. The union representatives told Miller that the one and only condition under which they would return to work was if the acquisition was halted.

 Ma Rufu, one of the six representatives, said there were three main reasons for their opposition to the deal. Firstly, if the acquisition is accomplished, Apollo India would face the problem of excessive debt, which would make the factory financially vulnerable to any decline in market demand. Further, the factory will suffer due to the differences in Chinese and Indian business culture. The factory had already paid a huge price to adjust itself to an American style of management. Thirdly, Ma said that by ignoring the concerns of the union the parties were breaking Chinese law. On July 12, Cooper Tire publically announced that the acquisition was still going ahead.