Workers at Titan Tire International are still on strike and are more determined than ever to be heard.

Tom King, employee of Titan Tire International in Des Moines and member of the United Steel Workers of America Union, came to Iowa State Thursday evening along with other union members and employees to speak to students and staff about the strike.

King said the workers are fighting for better working conditions, a good pension, better benefits and better pay.

“It’s not a good place to work. The stuff is bad for your health,” he said. “Also, we want to be paid what we are worth, and we want to be able to leave with a pension.”

Officials at Titan Tire International could not be reached for comment.

Titan Tire International is owned by Morry Taylor. Although Taylor has entered into negotiations with the union, King said it seems that union members keep talking but Taylor’s just not listening.

“His idea is to break the union. It would have only cost him $2 million to settle. But instead he chose to spend many times more than that to break the union, rather than pay a fair price for a fair contract,” King said.

“One of the [foremen] at the plant admitted that production is at 30 percent, but they are running 40 percent scrap,” King said. “He admits to losing almost $6 million, and it would have cost only $2 million to settle.”

King said Taylor’s real aim is to build a low-wage, non-union empire.

“His agenda is quite simple — to create an empire of non-union, low-wage workers who he can manipulate. But he made a mistake when he bought a couple of steel plants with strong local unions. He had no intentions of dealing with the union, but he ended up having to,” he said.

Workers at another of Taylor’s tire plants in Natchez, Miss., also are on strike, King said.

“They’re on strike just trying to get something out of what they lost,” he said.

King said the National Labor Relations Board in Des Moines has also cited Taylor for unfair labor practices.

“First of all, you can’t hire people for anything different than the last, best and final offer,” he said. “He made people quit jobs on his word, with the promise of good pay and benefits, and he didn’t do it.”

Because the strike is an unfair labor practice strike, by law it is illegal to replace the union members with other workers, King said.

“The strike is not so much about economic conditions than about the unfair labor practices,” he said. “We’re not worried about the money [as] much as the conditions we work under.”

King said the workers have received a lot of support from various public officials.

“Mayor [Preston] Daniels in Des Moines is very supportive, and he’s been very helpful to us. Governor-to-be Tom Vilsack’s also been very helpful to us. Public officials have been pretty much on our side,” he said.

King also said the decision to go on strike was not an easy one to make.

“It’s a real, real decision when you put your ass on the line. It’s a big decision to try to go against the boss,” he said.

“It’s tough to have to tell your kids that you can’t buy them things. For people to make those kinds of sacrifices has to mean something.”