Last Friday, 43 brothers and sisters from Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 846 got the call telling them not to report back to the Chickamauga Lock replacement project until they hear otherwise.
No warning. No notice. Just a layoff, after years of putting their backs into one of the most important infrastructure projects in the Tennessee Valley.
(IN THE NEWS: Feds end contract with Chickamauga lock contractor to ‘protect taxpayer dollars’)
Before the dust settles and the explanations get written, somebody needs to speak for the workers on the ground.
This project is bigger and older than any one contractor. Our members have worked this project across multiple phases. They’ve worked through high water that flooded the cofferdam, through scheduling shifts, contract disputes, design changes and every other turn this project has taken. They didn’t cause any of those problems, and they were not in the room when any of those decisions got made.