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The lockout continues
Local 1832 out more than eight months

As of May 19, the members at Local 1832 in Madison, Tenn., have been locked out of their jobs at Peterbilt Motors Co. for more than eight months.

Although there have been a couple of recent bargaining sessions, no significant progress has been made toward ending the lockout. The parties met April 30-May 3 and May 14-15. At the end of each session, Peterbilt negotiators informed the union they had to return to company headquarters in Bellevue, Wash., to obtain approval for movement in certain areas. At the end of the last session, company negotiators informed the local that they would contact them regarding a possible next meeting.

While the lockout continues, the union has been active. On April 22, nine Local 1832 members, including President Mike Pardue, traveled to Seattle and Bellevue. They demonstrated outside the annual PACCAR stockholders meeting along with approximately 75 union and community group supporters. PACCAR is the parent company of Peterbilt.

Pardue and four other members entered the stockholders meeting while the remainder of the demonstrators marched four blocks to the Bank of America branch adjacent to PACCAR Towers to pass out leaflets against the bank, which is a major shareholder in PACCAR.

During a concurrent rally at a Bank of America branch in Nashville, Local 1832 Financial Secretary George Fox announced plans to close the local’s account with the bank. At a May 13 rally, a spokesman for Local 1853 of Saturn in Spring Hill, Tenn., announced its intention to follow suit unless the bank assists in pressuring PACCAR to end the lockout and negotiate a fair and equitable agreement.

For more information, log on to UAWLocal1832.com..

CAPTION: Left to right, Kenneth Austin, Local 1577 president/chairman; Jim Pennings, V-CAP chairman; Terry Barnes, former Local 1577 president .