James Crowder

James Crowder of Tuscaloosa, a mill worker at the Uniroyal-Goodrich tire plant and recording secretary of United Steelworkers Union Local 351, said many industrial plants commonly shut down for a week or two at a time.And hourly workers file for and collect unemployment for a week or more until they're called back to work.

He said a one-week delay in payments will cut families out of a paycheck several times a year.

In many cases, he said those laid off won't get to collect a full 26 weeks of unemployment checks since they end up going back to work before their benefits end.

"I really don't like it because when you're down, you need everything you can get," Crowder said.

"All we really know right now is they're going to do a 40 percent cutback at the end of the year," said James Crowder, recording secretary and spokesman for United Steelworkers of America Local 351, the Tuscaloosa plant's employee union.

Crowder said the union has just begun negotiations with the company on a new collective bargaining agreement and was not anticipating layoffs.

"We don't really look for anything to happen in Tuscaloosa," he said.

"I'm excited that were not actually going to strike," said James Crowder, secretary for United Steelworkers of America Local 351 at the Tuscaloosa plant, which employs nearly 1,280 workers.