Labor Dispute Could Lead To Delays On Calhoun County Road Projects

Construction projects in Calhoun County could be seeing delays for a while due to a union getting locked-out.

WWMT reports that workers with the Operating Engineers Local 324 have been working without a contract this summer, and since they can’t come to an agreement with the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, the MITA has decided to lockout Local 324 workers from job sites. The MITA says they took this measure because the union is being uncooperative, and that the lockout won't end until the union accepts the contract they have offered.

The union, however, insists that they didn't want this to happen, and that their workers have been laboring for a while without a contract; they say that their being sidelined from job sites is entirely "involuntary".

Until this situation is resolved, several road projects in Calhoun County could be affected and might take longer to finish. The Michigan Department of Transportation says that even with the labor dispute, contractors are obligated to keep work zones safe for motorists. They also say that MDOT would not compensate contractors for any extra costs that these delays could cause.