Strikes Hit Rubber Plants
Underground caverns are used to store the finished products, Propane storage cavern holds 210,000 barrels, butane cavern 85,000 barrels v e e r ' ί»·%
Nearly half of the nation's tire out put was idle last week as strikes con tinued at U. S. Rubber, Firestone, and Goodrich. Ail told, an estimated 57,000 workers in 30 cities were affected. And despite a surprisingly quick settle ment between Goodyear and United Rubber Workers Union, hopes were not high for an immediate end to the other walkouts. As C&EX went to press, the rubber companies' chemical suppliers had not been seriously affected by the strikes. But unless an early agreement can be reached. chemical makers will no doubt feel the results. Butadiene poses a special problem because of the big part of it that goes into synthetic rubber. But for now, at least, butadiene makers won't feel the pinch. One producer says it will go ahead with a maintenance program which has been delayed for some time. If the strike ends while the plant is down, there's enough butadiene on hand to fill contractual demands until production is started again. If the strike continues for a long time, the plant will not be restarted. Another butadiene maker that won't be hurt immediately is Neches Butane Products at Port Neches, Tex. The company furnishes butadiene to both Goodrich-Gulf and Texas-U. S., neither of which has yet cut back its produc tion because of the strike.
Long Strike ^ouid Hurt (J958
Butadiene
Styrene
SEPARATOR. Hydrocarbons coming from the West Virginia extraction plant move to these towers—the depropanizer and debutanizer—at Siloam
Estimates)
Produc tion ( Million Markets Pounds) Synthetic rubbers 1324 Other 147 Total 1471 Synthetic rubbers 400 Plastics 475 Other {Including exports ) 325 Total 1200
Styrene producers are in an even better position than butadiene makers to withstand a long strike. Only about a third of the styrene made in 1958 went into synthetic rubber, the rest into plastics, exports, and other outlets. Dow, for instance, says it won't have to stop making styrene, since it is the biggest user of its own production ( for plastics). Dow's major outside cus
tomer, though, is the rubber industry. The strike, now in its third week, began when t h e rubber union struck IS U. S. Rubber plants. A few days later, Firestone and Goodrich were hit. Goodyear, the fourth member of the Big Four, avoided a shutdown when talks with the union were extended be yond the union deadline. Specific de tails of the Goodyear settlement aren't available yet. Ordinarily, the Goodyear settlement would help pave the way to quick agreements with the other companies. This would b e true if wages were the basic issue. But, oddly enough, wages are not up for discussion. All the trouble centers around fringe benefits, which vary slightly from company t o company. So the Goodyear contract can't necessarily b e used as a model. Goodrich, which has 13,000 workers out at seven locations, took a full page ad in the Akron Beacon Journal to state its case. T h e company says the union has m a d e impossible demand* which would add more than $1.00 an hour t o employ ment cost. There are 49 issues involved at Goodrich. Firestone has some 137 points o n the discussion docket. However, most of these are probably just talking points and will fall by the wayside durirw negotiations.
Stauffer Defers Expansion A $1 million expansion in caustic soda and chlorine at Stauffer Chemical's N i agara Falls, X. Y., plant may b e can celed. Stauffer had planned to boost its 100 ton-a-day output by 10 to 15Ά , now cites the utility's failure to confirm previously indicated rates for electric power as cause. Stauffer, now spending $1 million to convert from 25 to 6 0 cycle power, says that earlier power rates h a d been indicated which would be reasonable. The company found t h a t in converting it could expand its capacity by a com paratively small additional cost. How ever, when t h e expansion program w a s started, both Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. and t h e New York State Power Authority declined to make firm com mitments on future rates. Stauffer h a d completed engineering work for t h e larger plant and some equipment was on order. The expan sion project will not b e restarted until reasonable rates are established, says Stauffer. T h e conversion program will be completed, however. g APRIL
2 7,
1959
C&EN
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