Union Strike Holding Up Additional Warsaw Street Projects
Posted
Aaron Organ-aorgan@timesuniononline.com
In addition to the Warsaw Center Street resurfacing project being held up, two other city street projects are on hold. The Lake Street at Fox Farm Road reconstruction roundabout project and the intersection of Ind. 15 (Fisher Avenue) and CR 100S (Rozella Road) improvements also are delayed. Projects not being affected are the Ind. 15N water main project, and the U.S. 30 bridge replacement project over Deeds Creek. The Center Street, Fisher Avenue and Rozella Road, and Lake Street at Fox Farm road projects are on hold due to members of the International Union Of Operating Engineers Local 150 going on strike. “Planned work on the Center Street project in Warsaw was suspended as a precautionary measure to avoid the inconvenience to motorists that would be caused by indefinite closure of a traffic lane with no way to re-open it,” said Dan Brown, Phend & Brown president. Brown said Phend & Brown is working with the other companies represented by ICA Inc. to bring about a reasonable solution to the course of action taken by Local 150. Brown said the strike by Local 150 also has caused the suspension of work at the intersection of Old 30 and Fox Farm Road and has caused the shut down of Phend & Brown asphalt plants in Leesburg and Disko. Phend & Brown is represented in labor negotiations by the Highway, Heavy and Utility Division of ICA Inc., a multi-employer bargaining group of contractors that negotiates labor agreements with the various trade unions. While occurring at the same time as the strike by the Local 150 against the Northwest Contractors Association, Local 150s strike impacting Warsaw area against the member companies of the multi-employer bargaining group represented by ICA Inc. covers a 10-county area of Northern Indiana. The area excludes Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and St. Joseph counties. The strike is against the Northwest Indiana Contractors Association impacts building projects in northwest Indiana. The unions’ contracts with three employer associations are expired, and all three associations’ latest proposals were overwhelmingly rejected by local 150 members on June 5. Members of the Local 150 are picketing the asphalt plants in the area as they await the conclusion of contract negotiations. Local 150’s main focus in negotiations has not been on wage raises, but instead on keeping up with rapidly increasing healthcare inflation costs, which industry experts have estimated at approximately 10 to 14 percent. Local 150s strike effect building, road, bridge, and various other types of work being performed in Lake, Porter, La Porter, St. Joseph, Elkhart, La Grange, Marshall, Fulton, Kosciusko, Noble, Newton, Jasper, Starke, and Pulaski counties. In Elkhart County, with the union strike, that means the extension of the CR 17 from CR 38 at a cost of $10 million will be on delay.
