Calvin Creech has spent 10 years reporting to work at the AGY plant in Aiken. But when he tried to enter the workplace at midnight Friday, Creech said, he was turned away.

“When I was coming in, I was stopped by the deputy and (told) we are on a lockout,” said Creech, a specialist at the glass fiber manufacturing facility on Wagener Road. “That means we have to turn around because we have no job. It makes me feel like crap.”

Creech and several of his hourly co-workers, all members of the Teamsters Local Union No. 509, stood in front of the facility at mid-morning Friday protesting a proposed new labor contract that would cut employees’ vacation, holiday and overtime pay; get rid of plant seniority; change the attendance policy; and enforce random drug and alcohol tests.

“It is a slap in the face,” Creech said. “We give up a lot of our time.”

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