A recent appeals court ruling means Titan Tire officials will have to go back to the table for more negotiations with Steelworkers Local 303L, union President Leo &uot;T-Bone&uot; Bradley said Wednesday.

&uot;It means that Morry Taylor is going to have to sit down and bargain with us over these issues,&uot; Bradley said, referring to last week’s ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

But Taylor, president of Titan Tire, disagreed, saying the ruling only clarifies a minor legal point and that the union will gain nothing from having the case sent back to district court. &uot;It means nothing,&uot; Taylor said.

Titan representatives and union members have already held negotiations several times over such issues as overtime and the use of outside contractors, but little has been accomplished in the talks. The union went on strike in September 1998.

The 10-page ruling stated that the union’s agreeing to let a district court rule on certain contract issues between Condere Corp. – whose operations Titan bought after Condere’s bankruptcy – and Local 303L does not automatically stop the union from then submitting such issues to arbitration.

The situation started when Condere filed a bankruptcy petition in May 1997, closed its Natchez plant that June and filed a motion to reject the collective bargaining agreement it had with the union.

The union opposed rejection of the agreement on the grounds that Condere had violated the agreement after filing for bankruptcy.

&uot;These alleged violations were detailed in numerous grievances the union had filed against Condere,&uot; the Fifth Circuit ruling stated.

U.S. District Judge E. Grady Jolly Jr. then allowed Condere and the union to negotiate a new agreement, but after a few weeks the parties still had not agreed on some issues.

Both Condere and the union then agreed to let the court decide the remaining issues and, in August 1998, the court allowed rejection of some of the disputed items. But after that order was filed, the union attempted to submit some of its post-bankruptcy grievances to arbitration.

Condere objected to that move by the union, saying the court’s rejection order precluded the union from submitting those grievances.

Jolly then issued a clarification order in December 1998 stating that since both Condere and the union had agreed to let the court decide certain bargaining agreement issues, the union could not then submit such grievances to arbitration.

According to Bradley, those grievances related to the following issues, among others:

4Five-day notice prior to shut down of the plant.

4Overtime.

4 Outside contractors. &uot;They have notify us before they bring in contractors,&uot;&160;Bradley said.

4 Work performed by supervisors. Bradley said the company used supervisors to do painting and janitorial work in addition to their supervisory duties.

&uot;Now it goes back to Judge Jolly, and it can either go before him or he can send it back to arbitration,&uot; Taylor said. &uot;And he has already heard the case. What’s he going to do?&uot;

Although the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case, U.S. District Court has not yet received anything further on the case, said a court clerk in Jackson.

Bradley said he interprets the Fifth Circuit decision as sending the issues to arbitration, not sending the case back to Jolly.