news ~
Fibers & Textiles Company Gastonia, North Carolina • Bennettsville, South Carolina
Bowling Green, Kentucky • Hopewell, Virginia • Woodstock, Ontario, Canada
. . our
main
purpose..
I!
MATCHING GIFTS
Some Basic
Changes
• Firestone/Gastonia is in Group C (1,000-
3,099 employees) of the ‘‘Make Textiles
First in Safety” contest sponsored by Ameri
can Textile Manufacturers Institute, atmi,
the industry’s national trade association, is
conducting the safety promotion with more
than 100 companies, or plants, participating.
The firms have from 500 to 10,0(X) em
ployees.
Competition, which began in late 1981,
continues indefinitely. At periods during
each year. Firestone reports its safety figures
to ATMi where they are set alongside the per
formance of other participating firms in the
same grouping.
The company with the best safety record
in each category will win a First in Safety
Award each year. Also in each category
there will be an award for Best Improvement
in Safety.
A NEW REPORT on the Firestone stand
ing is due in January. The last report in late
1981 put Firestone in 2nd place in its group
ing.
“Our main purpose in taking part in the
ATMI contest is to make it a constant remind
er of our need for safety awareness and prac
tice,” said Bill Passmore, Firestone Safety
manager. Some ways toward this:
•Go about our jobs with the knowledge
that accidents and injuries have causes.
They don’t ‘just happen.’
•Always practice what we know about
safety. Observe all safe procedures, looking
out for hazards.
•Think on ways to promote safety. Put
your Ways on paper as ideas and let us have
them in the Suggestion program.
The Firestone Trust Fund will match gifts made by Fire
stone employees, retirees and directors to accredited colleges,
universities and secondary schools or independent college
funds in the United States.
Gifts for matching begin at $50 and go up to $5,000. The
minimum/maximum figures are key changes in the Match
ing Gift Plan which went into effect Jan. 1. Old figures were
$25 and $3,000.
Another major change: Gifts from spouses or surviving
spouses of employees, retirees and directors are no longer
matched.
Each gift to an institution or fund must be accompanied
by a completed form, available from personnel representa
tives or controllers at any Firestone plant or zone office. Re
vised booklets on the Program also sire available.
Matching Gifts to Education go to the educational insti
tution.
Each donor gives a matching fund with the understanding
that a gift and its matching amount is not to be used as pay
ment for tuition, fees, books, alumni dues or similar items,
nor for the benefit of a specific person.
Warp&
Filling
A name & a word
Misspelled words and names,
wrong names, misplaced sentences,
transposed syllables, garbled words,
incorrect figures. They're some ol'
the gremlins that turn up in this
publication, in spite of. . .
Example: In the Gastonia Ser
vice roster (November issue of
Firestone News) a weaver in TC
Weaving completing 40 years work
was listed as Donald G. Gribble.
His name is David L. Gribble. This
is to correct the error.
ANOTHER example appeared
6,276
BUYING
SP&S improvements
Firestone Common Stock for
accounts of employees participa
ting in the Stock Purchase & Sav
ings Plan was bought at an aver
age price of S9.92 during Nov.
1981. In that, the most recent
report, 6,276 employees had ac
counts in the SP&S Plan.
Manufacturers Hanover Trust
Company buys the stock on the
market for the company and ac
counts of employees investing in
the program. Through the plan.
the company adds SI for every
S2 an employee invests.
Some improvements in the plan
are expected in early 1982, sub
ject to stockholder and IRS ap
proval. Expected key changes
include a shortening of the vest
ing period from 5 to 2 years,
making withdrawal provisions
more liberal; and allowing em
ployees with less than 20 years
service to invest up to 6% of earn
ings, and up to 8% for those with
more than 20 years work time.
• • Off West Second Ave
nue at west end of Fire
stone/Gastonia mill, the
site remembered as location
of old Abemethy Elemen
tary School. Originally
named West School, the
building was tom down in
1972. The school had serv
ed the mill area into the
1960s.
earlier in an article "consumer
action." The item told of a U.S. Ollicc
of Consumer Affairs free publica
tion "Consumer Fact Sheet on
Dispute-Resolution Services." The
pamphlet lists consumer-action
panels and trade associations that
offer mediation arbitration or
other procedures for dealing with
consumer complaints.
But somehow the word "media
tion" turned up in print as "medi
tation."
Careful reader Thomas A. Grant
"re-focused" on that. The retired
Firestone Gastonia manager of
Industrial Engineering called at
tention to the word. He allowed as
how "meditation" very well could
have been the more apt term alter
all. considering the subject dealt
with.
•more on page 3
To 12 States & 13 countries
• A lot of string put together!. . . The 64 million pounds
fabric produced at Firestone/Gastonia in 1981.
Of this volume, the preponderance was woven-and-treated
cord fabric for reinforcement in tires of many kinds. A small
amount was for industrial applications.
And where did it go? The Gastonia-produced fabric during
1981 was shipped to Firestone and ‘outside’ customers in a
dozen states of the U.S.: Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee,
Oklahoma, North Carolina, Indiana, Pennsylvania, California,
Colorado and Ohio.
Export went to 13 countries; Australia, Canada, Kenya,
Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Italy, France, Venezuela, The Philip
pines, Mexico, New Zealand and Thailand.
’82