Ironworkers Local 44, a union for workers in the building and construction trade, was forced to end its informational picket outside the construction site for the new Talawanda High School in early October.
The union claimed the construction company in charge of the new school, Building System Erectors, exhibited unfair labor practices when it refused to hire union members.
The City of Oxford granted the union a 30-day permit to picket the construction site Oct. 5. However, the union was not able to capitalize on the month-long permit.
Tom Weingartner, business agent and organizer for Ironworkers Local 44, said the union had to drop the unfair labor claim when a key witness refused to cooperate in the final stages of the class-action lawsuit.
"We need a valid unfair labor practice claim to be able to picket," Weingartner said. "When the guy who was fired by the company refused to come forward, we had to drop the (unfair labor practice) permit."
Weingartner said the union was able to get some use out of the permit. From Oct. 6 to 8, union members picketed at the site.
Union members stood outside the gates of the construction site from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Weingartner said this was an informational protest, which is often misunderstood by the public.
"In this type of picket, we just provide people with information," Weingartner said. "It doesn't prevent people from going to work. We just want to let them know what was going on."
He said he hoped the union's presence would prompt workers from the high school construction site to ask why they were protesting.
According to Weingartner, the claim originated in Newport, Ky. where Building System Erectors was working on a courthouse. The union had already begun picketing this site when members heard the company had acquired the Talawanda High School project in Oxford.
Now that the permit is invalid and picketing has ended at both construction sites, Weingartner said the union's only option is to move on unless it finds evidence to file another claim.
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