LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As the strike at Heaven Hill Distillery in Bardstown entered its sixth week Monday, the company said it has begun hiring permanent replacement workers and signaled that negotiations with the labor union representing those workers are over.

What You Need To Know

  • Workers at Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown have been on strike since Sept. 11

  • The company said Monday it is moving to hire permanent replacements for the striking workers

  • The union claims that it is still willing to negotiate 

  • A UofL law professor said this type of dispute is not uncommon

In a statement released Monday, Heaven Hill spokesperson Lauren Cherry Newcomb said the company and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23D “have reached an impasse in contract negotiations.” The statement said the company has “worked in good faith with the UFCW to adopt a new contract,” but they have failed to “reach mutually agreeable contract terms.”

Union leaders dispute that claim. “The reality is that Heaven Hill negotiations are not at an impasse,” UFCW Local 23D president Matt Aubrey said in a statement Monday. “UFCW 23D and Heaven Hill workers are ready and willing to meet with the company to continue talks so that we can reach a fair contract.” The union has also filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the company is failing to bargain in good faith.

Whether the two groups are actually at an impasse “is decided by a host of different factors and is not an easy determination,” said Ariana Levinson, a University of Louisville labor law professor.

Typically, when companies and striking workers are in negotiations, she said, the company will be eager to insist that the two sides have reached an impasse so it can implement the “last, best final offer” of a new contract. “The union never wants to get to an impasse,” Levinson said. “They want to continue to bargain and get the whole package that they can be happy with and employees can be happy with.”

The union's position is that it's not legal for the company to implement its final offer, said attorney Chelsea N. Dermody, who is representing the union. "If the company does implement its offer on Monday, the union will challenge that implementation with the National Labor Relations Board," she said.

The strike at Heaven Hill began on Sept. 11 after 96% of UFCW Local 23D workers rejected a new five-year contract from the company. Union leaders and members say the contract includes provisions that would make health care more expensive and institute new, undesirable work schedules. 

It’s not uncommon for companies to move on from striking union workers and attempt to hire permanent replacements. Levinson said President Ronald Reagan's firing of more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers in 1981 marked a historical turning point. 

“It's definitely not unheard of, but it definitely looks like at that point you're trying to break your union,” she said. 

Dermody pointed out that if the company does move forward with it hiring replacement workers, "that does not mean that the current workers' employment is terminated or that their seniority rights will be affected."

"Whether the company is able to hire replacement workers or not, the union lawfully is on strike and the current employees maintain their employment status and their seniority rights with the company," she said.

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