WHITING, Ind. — Close to 200 locked-out BP oil refinery workers, members of United Steelworkers Local 7-1, and their families and supporters formed a contingent and marched in the July 4 parade here. Whiting is a working-class town and they got a rousing response from hundreds of bystanders, who clapped and shouted support. Afterward, the union held a cookout at the union hall. The oil workers were locked out by BP March 19, after they voted overwhelmingly against the bosses’ union-busting contract proposal.
