Years Later, Justice Served for Locked Out Utility Workers
August 26, 2008
 The seven-year long quest for justice by Downers Grove, Ill., Local 15 for more than 1,000 power plant workers illegally locked out by Midwest Generation in 2001 is finally over.
On August 7 representatives from the Chicago-based utility, Midwest Generation, agreed to pay the Local 15 workers, $15.5 million as a final settlement to the lengthy labor dispute.
“The guys have been waiting seven years for this settlement, so it’s good news for the members and the IBEW,” said Local 15 Business Representative Doug Vedas.
In June 2001, more than 1,000 Local 15 members went on strike against Midwest during an impasse in contract negotiations. Two months later, the local voted to end the strike, offering to return to work while continuing contract negotiations.
Midwest turned down the offer, locking them out until they accepted the company’s final offer. “It was a totally illegal lockout,” said Business Manager Dean Apple.
Members finally approved the company’s final offer in October. But the local argued that the company’s actions constituted an unfair labor practice. The IBEW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, contenting that the partial lockout was discriminatory against union employees, because replacement workers were allowed to continue working.
The Bush-dominated board sided with the company, but an appeal by Local 15 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh District overturned the NLRB’s decision in 2005.
Midwest appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the appeals courts decision a year later, but the judges let the ruling stand. “That was the turning point in the fight for justice for our members,” Apple said.
The case went back to the NLRB, which ruled in March that the locked-out workers be made whole. Both parties agreed to a board-supervised mediation, which began in August.
The settlement money will be divided into two parts, with approximately two-thirds of the settlement going to more 1,000 members involved in the original lockout and the rest going to an undefined group of approximately 700 workers.
The NLRB still has to finalize the settlement, but leaders are hopeful that it will be completed in the near future.
Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user B I R D
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