Many passing motorists honked to show support for the pickets.

Workers at SIGECO are members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 702. They were locked out hours after voting down a contract offer June 30 by the company, which claimed they were "unreliable" without an agreement.

Local 702 business representative Matt Hemenway, who joined the pickets earlier in the day, said, "Everyone is united and staying strong. Morale is remarkably high."

He added that morale among management personnel who are forced to work long days doing union members' work is getting worse. Bryan McGehee, a pipefitter, said, "We're locked out and they're locked in," pointing to a supervisor driving a repair truck into the facility.

McGehee and Robert Arthur, a mechanic, reported that eight trailers have been set up inside the maintenance yard and at several power plants. Caterers have been brought in to provide meals. Supervisors, line foremen, and engineers have had to cancel vacations and family plans. Administrative personnel, the unionists said, are forced to work 12-hour shifts and then kept on the property. After 36 hours they are allowed to go home for a short time, and some are called back after only a couple of hours at home to deal with emergencies.

Secretaries and other office employees have been pressed into 12-hour stints in the field but are allowed to leave at the end of the day.

About 100 company personnel reportedly signed a petition protesting the conditions they are forced to work under.

Supporters of the locked-out workers have organized car caravans of four or five cars at a time to show their support. By rigorously observing legal speed limits and safe driving conditions near power plants, coal trucks attempting to make deliveries have been significantly backed up.

Several workers explained the big sticking point in contract negotiations is a demand by the company to bar sympathy strikes, while seeking separate contracts for each facility, a move that would undercut the union.