Two scrap cars were turned over and a third set on fire as striking Visteon Corp. workers tried to stop replacement workers from entering a plant in Bedford, southern Indiana, state police told Reuters.
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A police spokesman told the news agency that two people were arrested late on Tuesday when they refused to leave following the fire, which occurred at about 8:45 pm.
Reuters said four people have now been arrested at the plant, which makes fuel pumps and other components.
The report said over 1,000 members of the International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America, Local [branch] 907, went on strike early on Sunday shortly after their previous contract expired – workers had voted on May 28 to reject the company’s “last and final” offer.
The union, in a statement released on Wednesday, reportedly said its members had initially offered to continue work without an agreement but changed its plans once Visteon started removing machinery used to make fuel pumps from the plant.
Visteon told Reuters that it moved the equipment to other locations so it could continue to meet the needs of Ford and other customers.
A spokesman reportedly said that the company continues to make fuel pressure regulators, windscreen wiper modules and windscreen washer tanks at the Bedford plant with replacement workers and managers.
Reuters said health care and job security were major issues during contract negotiations after Visteon had announced plans in April to cut 600 of the plant’s 1,150 jobs and to seek cuts from the remaining workers.
The last strike at the plant occurred in 1988 and lasted less than 24 hours, a union spokesperson told the news agency.
