A group of Ironworkers Local 395 members went on strike Tuesday after a contract with more than 100 commercial and industrial contractors expired a day earlier.
Mike Summers, business manager for the Portage-based local, said a one-year contract representing about 500 workers in the craft expired Monday without another deal in place. A strike authorization vote was held two weeks ago for employees on project sites including the Indiana Toll Road and Interstate 80/94, Summers said.
Workers began assembling near construction areas related to the work stoppage as early as 4 a.m. Tuesday. However, Summers conceded a long work stoppage would benefit neither workers nor employers.
"This is the last thing we need," Summers said. "This area has been depressed for two years ... now we're out on strike."
Gary Kebert, vice president of Meccon Industries Inc. in Lansing and president of the NWI Contractors Association, declined to comment Tuesday.
The NWI Contractors Association consists of construction companies working in an array of markets that employ craftsmen from building trade unions in the region. Ironworkers Local 395 is one of seven union crafts the association works with, and more than 500 contractors work under the labor contract the association negotiates.
Dewey Pearman, executive director of the Construction Advancement Foundation in Portage, said he learned of the strike from contractors Tuesday and added he couldn't comment directly on the state of negotiations. Pearman, whose organization provides administrative staff support to the NWI Contractors Association, said parties involved weren't surprised a strike was called after the previous contract expired.
Amber Scott, spokeswoman for ITR Concession Co., the company that runs the Indiana Toll Road, said there was minimal impact on Toll Road operations because of the strike, but she said construction work had ceased at the Broadway bridge in Gary, a bridge in Hammond and another in Porter County.
Scott said a minimum of two lanes of travel would be kept open in both directions while the strike is ongoing and that travelers shouldn't be affected by the developments.
Summers said the last time he spoke with a contractors association representative was two weeks ago and that when an offer was ready, he would hear about it.
"They must have lost the phone number," Summers quipped.
He also said he has been disappointed that pay increases for ironworkers have not been a part of contract conversations when he says other crafts have received "substantial raises."
An expired contract hasn't halted all work for covered contractors. Summers said about 20 have signed a retroactive agreement, which includes a provision for ironworkers to be paid their established wage, plus an additional amount of money. He anticipated an additional 20 contractors could sign onto similar agreements by the end of today. The agreements would be held in place until a master contract is forged.
The local, which represents about 1,100 members, is expected to continue staffing area steel mills and the BP Whiting Refinery, Summers said.
Randy Palmateer, business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, said negotiations are going on with the ironworkers union and four other crafts. But he said the only job action he was aware of was the ironworkers strike.
