United Steelworkers confirms NIPSCO locks out 1,600 union workers

NIPSCO locks out 1600 USW employees

Within the last two hours, Fox Chicago confirmed NIPSCO locked out its union members who are part of the United Steelworkers. This impacts not only linemen, but it's cleric staff. Fox Chicago's Bret Buganski spoke with union members earlier tonight who told him they didn't know if they should report to work tomorrow.

CHESTERTON, Ind. - The United Steelworkers announced NIPSCO is locking out about 1,600 of their union workers across two bargaining units.

What we know:

The contract between USW and NIPSCO expired at 4:00 p.m. Thursday. Negotiations began on January 20th, and throughout the week, both sides have been at the bargaining table. USW vice president Vernon Beck tells Fox Chicago that on Wednesday, they were negotiating for nearly twenty hours, but did not come away with a deal.

USW calls the lockout of union members, "an aggressive escalation that threatens worker safety, undermines labor rights and disrupts communities across northern Indiana."

Beck said mandatory overtime, limitations on hours worked in a single day and NIPSCO expanding the practice of hiring independent, non-union workers for work, remain the main issues for why they are still far apart on a deal.

"There's going to be an unlimited amount on they can hold you over, or have you come in three hours earlier, or have to keep you over," said Beck.

He also told us the linemen in Gary, Indiana's district are budgeted for 30 union members. Beck said there are only 14 members working in that area.

"They're wearing people out there, we feel they're trying to force this over time so they can just keep whipping people instead of hiring more people," said Beck. "They got more contractors doing our work than we have our own members doing our own work. So it's, we're like, we wanna do our own work, we want to take care of our customers. They want to limit us on an hour so we can work. We don't feel that's right."

The Indian Labor Federation also spoke with Fox Chicago Thursday outside the Hilton Garden Inn, where negotiations took place between the union and NIPSCO. Hundreds of union members stood in solidarity in the rain and gusty wind, as they waited to see if they needed to report to work Friday. Steven Mincuk, from the ILF, said severe weather was top of mind for linemen.

"Public safety is at risk now, so it's not just our brothers and sisters being locked out," said Mincuk. "Now we're talkin' if there's a gas leak, there's, power lines down, got a big storm coming in tonight. How are the firemen gonna respond? They won't have the help from the NIPSCO workers. It's just ludicrous right now what these corporations are doing to us."

Fox Chicago reached out to NIPSCO for an on-camera interview. A spokesperson released a statement saying in part:

"We will continue negotiating in good faith toward an outcome that demonstrates our commitment to our customers, communities and employees and best positions us to continue delivering safe, reliable and affordable energy.  If we are unable to obtain a collective bargaining agreement, NIPSCO will initiate a lockout of represented employees at 4 p.m. CST on April 2 and will continue until the union accepts our final offer, and we have an agreement as part of the collective bargaining process. As a regulated utility, NIPSCO remains focused on safety and reliable service, and we have operational plans in place while negotiations continue.

In a press packet, NIPSCO said its latest proposal to the union was based on "safety, long-term service reliability, efficient emergency response and customer affordability." The company offered pay raises of 4.25%, 4% and 4% over a three-year period to its employees, plus additional raises for lineworkers, senior building mechanics, and one time bonuses up to $5,000 for workers if they ratify the contract by April 10th.

Beck told Fox Chicago this labor dispute has nothing to do with money and everything to do with work-life balance.

"We want to take care of our customers, we want our work," said Beck.

"That's the whole issue is trying to fight to keep our work and not be forced to be slave laborers to these people."

What's next:

USW workers are locked out of their jobs as of Thursday, April 2. We're waiting for NIPSCO and the union to go back to the negotiating table for a new contract.