NIPSCO workers share the impact of the lockout on them and their families, clears up reasoning behind the picket lines

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Members of the United Steelworkers Union Local 12775 were out Friday morning as early as 6 a.m. Picketing outside of NIPSCO's South Bend location. They tell ABC57 a tentative agreement was reached Thursday around 7:30 p.m. However, until that's voted on, union members say they still feel the weight of the lockout.

ABC57 spoke with three union members today, Mitchell Sech, Matt Moore and Kirby Trent. They were asked to describe the impact of the lockout in one word.

"It's unsettling," said Sech.

"Uncertainty is a big word, but there's a lot of anger too," Trent shared.

"Can you give me a minute to think about that?" Moore asked.

He took a few minutes to think on the question, receiving support from his union members, encouraging him to be honest about how he feels. After a short break, Moore came back with an answer. "Unnecessary."

NIPSCO has locked out its workers since March 31 after it couldn't reach a contract agreement with the United Steelworkers Union. This means no income, and if the tentative deal isn't final by the end of April, no insurance.

For Mitchell Sech, that's a scary possibility. He just found out in January that he and his wife are expecting a baby girl. "I'm out here for them. Having to worry about the financial strain as well as coverage, deductibles. It's very concerning when you're trying to have continued appointments for an expecting mother," Sech explained.

USW has been picking for the past few weeks with support shifting from the NIPSCO Monopoly Madness Facebook Group to people driving by the picket line honking their horn. "This is a big shakeup," said Moore. He says he's a man of faith and has had to do some soul searching during this time. 

"My family has a lot of health issues and we also have bills. So, you have to take it one step at a time and just figure out how to get through this." he shared. Health issues come at a cost they soon may not be able to afford, for now, he's leaning on the support of the union and the community at large.

"We're in the communities. We're coaching sports alongside them, we're attending things, our kids go to school together. The public understands what we're going through, so I've been very pleased with that." 

South Bend representative, Kirby Trent, has been with the company for 20 years and is the sole income provider in his household. He says all of this sounds like betrayal. "We had to cut out anything that's not essential, especially with the cost of gas. We have to trip chain, especially with gas and coming to the picket line and back and forth to the union hall, so it's been tough," Trent explained.

After 20 years of serving his community, Trent says the lockout and recent Facebook posts made by NIPSCO have caused a lot of pain. "I felt personally attached by it and it's going to change a lot of the employee's attitudes when we do come back to work. We're here to do the job; we take pride in what we do; we show up every day. It feels like slander against us.

So, what's the hold up in regard to a new contract? The union members say it's not money. It's the overtime mandate. 

"There’s been a lot of overtime stipulations that have been put on the most recent agreements. The company wants us to be working more mandatory overtime and as someone who plans on having a daughter soon, I want to make sure I'm there for her and not just tied up in work," Sech explained. 

But he's not just worried about himself. "A lot of our union brothers and sisters who are single parents, they have to be home. They have to be available for their families," he continued. 

"This isn’t about wages; it’s not about money. I think the holdup has been a mandate in the amount of overtime we work. We all work a lot of overtime in these jobs. I don’t think a lot of people understand that and we think that the company is asking for something that’s excessive." explained Trent. 

ABC57 spoke with a number of union members prior to Friday's interviews who said they were willing to talk with us, but now on camera. One union member said they don't fully agree with the union but didn't want to be on camera out of fear of retaliation. This union member shared their belief that the USW is not accepting NIPSCO's contract offer because of Jamie Mante, the former union president.

"He quit the union and union job and took a job on the company side. He is now sitting on the negotiating team, negotiating for the company, against the union. Needless to say, these union guys hate him. Jamie could offer to give these guys 50 percent raising, $20,000 signing bonuses and they are going to refuse it because Jamie suggested it."

This is just part of what the union member shared with ABC57. We asked the union members about this statement and Jamie Mante today. "That one really hurts. I was an Assistant Griever for a number of years here in South Bend and I dealt with Jamie over the course of those years and we had some conversations. It feels like a betrayal," shared Trent.

Moore said "Jamie Mante is our former president of our union. He lost the election to Ryan Baker and not too long after that he chose to go company and he's on the company's negotiating team. We haven't even gone into this negotiating asking for part of NiSource's $900 billion profits; we've come in just to maintain what we have. We're not turning down anything just because of Jamie, our negotiating crew is a lot more professional than that."

As for Sech, "I'll be blunt. He doesn't matter that much that we're going to base our livelihoods and our futures around him. It's all about our families." 

A statement was sent out to union members stating in part "At this time, we remain locked out; however, all picketing must stop within the next 24 hours. Additionally, the rally scheduled for Saturday in Merrillville has been cancelled." 

This will surely bring some relief to Mark Kary, who lives across the street from the South Bend NIPSCO office, picket line and interrupted one of our interviews Friday morning.

The members have signs to honk for support on cones and stuck to the side of a port-a-potty. Kary says he understands why they're out there and their right to picket, but after two weeks, he's tired of it. He and his neighbors have called police more than once. 

Kary tells us the police haven't helped and may have honked their horn in support of the union members. "They shouldn’t have been allowed to yell and scream and keep all the neighbors up for 24 hours a day. We’ve got a lot of older people that live over here. They're in their 90s, one of them just recently had a stroke. I’m in my late 70s and we don’t need to be disrupted like that," Kary explained.

"They have a right to picket but they shouldn’t have the right to yell and scream all hours of the day and have people honk the horn 24 hours a day for over two weeks," he continued. 

ABC57 was at the picket line from 10:30 a.m. To 6:30 p.m. And heard multiple cars honking through the day. The union members did remove their "honk 2 support" signs as they were leaving shortly after 11:30.

Union members tell ABC57 they are waiting to learn the details of the agreement and will vote on it at the end of next week.