Rubber Workers Vote to End Strike : Labor: But a Bridgestone-Firestone spokesman won’t say how many will be called back.

Striking workers at a Bridgestone-Firestone Inc. plant voted to return unconditionally to the jobs they walked out on last summer during a national strike.

However, a company spokesman was noncommittal on how many union members would be called back to work. About 1,250 union members worked at the plant, and the company has since hired 900 replacements.

The vote was taken Sunday at a meeting to update union members on the progress of negotiations. No vote had been scheduled.

Roger Gates, president of United Rubberworkers Local 713, said workers voted by at least a 2-1 margin to return to work.

But Dave Schwab, a union member who attended the meeting, said union leaders nearing retirement were looking out for themselves. Many eligible members did not show up for the vote, and “there was shouting, chaos” after it was taken, Schwab said.

Bridgestone-Firestone spokesman Richard Thomas said the company received the return-to-work offer Monday and is considering it.

Thomas, speaking from Bridgestone-Firestone’s corporate office in Nashville, Tenn., said he does not know how many workers will be called back or when.

Gates said frustration over the replacement workers led to the vote.

“It’s a tough decision to make,” he said. “We’ve decided we’ve got to take our battle in a little different direction.”

A national strike was called against the nation’s No. 3 tire manufacturer July 12. More than 4,000 workers struck plants in Decatur, Oklahoma City and Des Moines, Iowa, as well as a Bridgestone-Firestone research center in Akron, Ohio.

About 150 workers at the Ohio facility agreed to return to work in January, but the company took back only 100.

Negotiations between the company and the union have been sporadic. A meeting is tentatively scheduled for next week, Gates said.