Trenton Police Chief Christy Smith confirmed today that her police department has been contacted by Bull Moose Tube management about keeping the peace during a possible employee lockout there at midnight, Tuesday, Aug. 21.
Tom DeRosa in Bull Moose's St. Louis, Mo., headquarters, questioned about an earlier lockout rumor, had told The Planet last week that a lockout had been avoided then by continuing negotiations with Bull Moose's local chapter of the labor union, United Steelworkers.
But this week negotiations seem to have broken down--at least to the point that the Trenton Police Department is on alert to make sure any confrontation between management and laborers remains peaceful.
A lockout is a temporary work stoppage or termination of employment initiated by management, as opposed to a strike, in which union workers make the decision to cease working unless or until management considers their demands.
On the management side, Tom DeRosa in St. Louis would not say how many employees here would be affected by the prospective lockout, only promising he would send a press release when one has been composed. Nor would he say what the dispute between workers and management involved.
But colloquial local estimates put the number of union workers who would be out of work at the Trenton Bull Moose plant if the lockout does indeed happen at around 70, with a total local workforce there of maybe 80 to 85.
Bull Moose is a steel pipe and tube company founded in 1962 that has several other manufacturing facilities across the United States and Canada.
The Planet will report more on this story as it develops.
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