Dozens of pipeline workers picketed outside of their company in Luthersburg, Clearfield County Wednesday after being locked out due to contract negotiations.

250 pipeline workers in Pennsylvania, about sixty in our region, showed up to work this morning to find they were locked out.

Dominion Transmission, a gas transmission company, maintains a high powered natural gas line that runs through Luthersburg. The United Gas Workers Union has been in negotiations with the company for several months.

A representative for the union told us Wednesday, they tried to avoid the lock-out situation, and while they are not striking, workers are actively picketing to inform the community what has happened.

Jason Boyce, a union member, says, “we are willing to work. We did not implement the work stoppage. We told the company, we are willing to bargain, and we are willing to continue working. So, we are just trying to educate the public that this was not a work stoppage induced by the union and we are willing to work.”
Union workers and the company will meet tomorrow to discuss the ongoing situation.

The union currently represents 950 Dominion Transmission workers in six states.

Meanwhile,  Dominion Transmission released  the following a statement midday Wednesday:

Dominion Transmission’s top priority is to provide our customers and communities with safe and reliable natural gas service. On Wednesday, Sept. 7, we informed our union-represented employees represented by Local 69 of the Utility Workers Union of America, United Gas Workers, at Dominion Transmission that we could not have them continue to work without a new labor contract.

We did not see any other option after Local 69 leadership refused to allow union members to vote on the tentative agreement that was signed by the union on August 26. We are extremely disappointed by union leadership’s action, as they had agreed to “recommend a favorable vote on this mutual agreement,” according to the memorandum of agreement. We believe it is important for you to see the entire negotiated agreement.

The companies’ decision to lock out the bargaining unit members comes after more than six months of good-faith bargaining by Dominion Transmission. It has been five months since the current labor agreement expired. The union leadership’s actions left us with no other choice as the heating season approaches. We have become increasingly concerned about the potential for a surprise walkout just when our customers need us most – on the coldest days of the year.

We have taken appropriate steps to ensure continued safe operations and reliable service. Supervisory and other non-union personnel are being augmented by contractors and temporary workers trained to handle essential tasks. Emergency calls will be answered promptly. The 24-hour monitoring of our system will continue. We apologize for any inconvenience.

During this time, please rest assured that customers will continue to receive the same level of safe, dependable service that you have come to expect from Dominion Transmission.

There will be no interruption of service.

We will maintain operations at all of our facilities.

As always, if you smell the odor of gas, please call Dominion Transmission at 1-888-264-8240.

If you have any gas transmission safety concerns, view our pipeline emergency information, or call us.