BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Both sides in the National Grid lockout say they're hoping to settle the dispute by Friday--but it's still a hard Christmas for the 1,200 union National Grid workers who have been locked out since June 24.
That's six months and a day--and one union steelworker tells WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal that, with the government shutdown, his family just lost their second source of income.
Todd Hill has worked for the company that is now National Grid for 20 years. Since the lockout, he's picked up work after the Columbia Gas disaster--he had the special licenses required, when many did not--and he's been doing seasonal work for Fed-Ex as well.
But that's just not what he does.
"When you get in the gas company, that's a job that you want to stay at for a long time, til you retire," Hill said. "That's what I want to do, I want to retire from there."
Adding to the Hill family's troubles--Hill's wife works for the IRS, so she's currently furloughed this Christmas as this partial government shutdown drags on.
"It makes you think nobody has a conscience anymore," Hill said.
WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) reports