the Ponca City plant onwards from April 2001 after refusing to accept wages and benefits cuts worth $15,000-20,000 per person. PACE alleges that the "locked-out workers were replaced by a low-cost itinerant workforce, with little or no experience in operating a highly sophisticated carbon black plant, where quality assurance must be high." The dispute at Ponca City continues, but last October PACE and Continental Carbon signed a new five-year agreement on pay and conditions at the Phoenix plant. They also signed a new six-year agreement in July 2004 for the Sunray plant workforce.
In mid-June 2004, five members belonging to PACE and the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions went on a seven-day hunger strike to draw attention to the situation at Ponca City and to demand pay and conditions similar to those enjoyed by workers at the Sunray carbon black plant.
Defective carbon black can cause tread separation in automotive tyres and PACE has been actively campaigning to make tyre manufacturers and dealers aware of the product quality risks that may apply to carbon black sourced from Ponca City. Goodyear had to temporarily shut down its largest tyre factory because of carbon black quality problems and Goodyear subsequently severed its business relationship with Continental Carbon. Cooper Tire has informed PACE by letter that is "no longer receiving carbon black from Continental Carbon's Ponca City facility." PACE has also actively campaigned in support of pollution lawsuits filed against Continental Carbon. On 25 August 2004, a US Federal Court awarded damages of more than $20 M against the company in respect of a lawsuit originally filed in August 2001. The City of Columbus (Georgia) was the main plaintiff, claiming that airborne carbon black particles and gaseous emissions from the Phoenix plant wafting across the Chattahoochee River to the city of Columbus had caused substantial damages to property owned by individuals and businesses there. Continental Carbon will be obliged to pay $1.9 M in compensatory damages, $17.5 M in punitive damages and $1.3 M to cover the plaintiffs' legal fees. The company