A lawsuit filed by a New Jersey-based Teamsters union local alleges striking workers at Airgas facilities in Peoria and elsewhere were subjected to hazardous chemicals while picketing last month.
The $7 million lawsuit claims two Peoria workers were outside the company's location at 2706 SW Adams Street on July 10, when they were “engulfed in dense white plumes of gas.” Teamsters say a similar incident happened two days earlier in Oakland, N.J.
The union says the acts were potentially deliberate attempts to intimidate the striking workers. The lawsuit in the New Jersey Supreme Court accuses Airgas of “battery, negligence, intentional tort, and strict liability” for abnormally dangerous activities.
“This was not an accident. The fact that this took place at two separate facilities within a two-day period suggests to me that it was an intentional attack meant to intimidate and harm,” Ron Lake, President of Local 701 in North Brunswick, N.J., said in a media release.
A statement provided to WCBU by Airgas Director of Corporate Communications Kim Menard said the company is unable to comment on pending litigation, but it did respond to the nature of the incidents.
“Standard industrial and medical gas industry processes involve the regular venting of atmospheric gases, gases common in the air we breathe, which can cause a visible water vapor cloud to form due to rapid cooling of humid air,” the statement said. “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our people and communities, and any suggestion that we would intentionally cause harm is ill informed and reckless.”
Teamsters at Airgas facilities across 11 states have been on strike since June over unfair labor practices.
