Tom Harkin: “I was pleased to be a cosponsor of it. As Senator Simon said before the vote, what Bridgestone Corp., a Japanese-owned…”

“I was pleased to be a cosponsor of it. As Senator Simon said before the vote, what Bridgestone Corp., a Japanese-owned corporation, is doing with our workers at the Firestone plant in my State of Iowa would be illegal for them to do in their own country. Mr. President, I am very close to the Firestone plant in Des Moines, IA. Many of my cousins work there. In the small town of 150 that I come from, almost half the town had worked at Firestone at one time or another. Many of my cousins work there. In fact, I spoke to one just yesterday. He has worked there almost 20 years, has a couple of kids in college, and has given the best years of his life to Firestone. Now they are told that they can just go take a walk, that they do not have a contract to operate under, and that they have to accede to what I consider to be unconscionable terms that Bridgestone has put up. I might also point out, Mr. President, and for the benefit of my colleagues here, that the Bridgestone Corp. in Japan also has union employees--Japanese union employees in Japan--and they make tires, just as they do in America.”