Quad-City Business Journal, July 23, 2010
Members of Local 4, Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters, who went on strike at job sites across the Quad-Cities this week will be back to work Monday, at least temporarily.
In a news release issued Friday afternoon, a spokesman for the union said the contractor and union carpenter committees reached a resolution to meet together next week. The parties also agreed to have strike signs removed from job sites and offices, and have union carpenters return to work while the committees attempt to resolve their differences, according to the release.
Union members had picketed in front of work zones at the Hotel Blackhawk and Forrest Block in Davenport and Augustana College in Rock Island. Picketers also were outside the Estes Construction office at the Redstone building in downtown Davenport, among other sites.
A spokesman for the contractors, Steve Tondi, could not be reached for comment Friday. Previously, he said negotiations have been going on since March 31 and that representatives from both sides have met at least 15 times.
The union members had been working without a contract since May 1, before going on strike July 20.
Amy Gill, a partner with Restoration St. Louis, which is hustling to complete both the Hotel Blackhawk and the Forrest Block projects, said she will be happy to see carpenters back on the job Monday. She said the windows would have been installed in the Forrest Block in time for today's Quad-City Times Bix 7 if it hadn't been for the strike.
"We're thrilled to have people back to work," she said. "Hopefully everyone will sit down and be reasonable with each other."
