Union Employees' Emotions High As Lock Out Continues

Raw emotion and frustration are in the air at Distributors as a union employee lockout enters its second month.

At least one union worker was arrested after he poured a drink on an individual who was walking through the picket line to apply for a job, police said.

Another jobseeker crossed the street to the police command post seeking an escort. He was greeted with profanity and insults when he passed through the line. One union worker allegedly stuck his foot out and tried to trip the man. An officer brought that union worker away from the picket line and told him to go home.

It has now been a little more than a month since Dichello locked out union employees after contract negotiations broke down. The union employees haven since spent every day outside as they seek to draw attention to their plight. At stake, they say, are their pensions.

The company reportedly offered a negotiation on the contract about a month ago, but the union workers turned it down. Numerous calls to company officials requesting comment have gone unanswered.

Dichello, located at 55 Marsh Hill Road in Orange, services New Haven, Fairfield, and Middlesex counties in Connecticut with Anheuser-Busch brands, and New Haven and Fairfield counties with Heineken USA brands.

Editor's note: This story was updated from its original version to provide more background.