MPP Workers Escalate Fight for Fair Contract as Tensions Rise in Indiana and Pennsylvania

Union Members Protest Unfair Labor Practices in Campbellsburg and Authorize Strike in St.Marys Amid Concerns Over Mill Point Capital’s Real Estate Deal

CAMPBELLSBURG, IN, UNITED STATES, May 28, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Union workers at Metal Powder Products (MPP) on Tuesday, May 27, protested the company’s failure to negotiate a fair contract and its ongoing pattern of alleged labor violations. The informational picket took place outside the Company’s facility on Oak Street, Campbellsburg, during both morning and afternoon shift changes while employees were not working.

For nearly a year, the union has been at the bargaining table with MPP management; yet there is still no tentative agreement in sight. Workers complain the company continues to delay progress, reject basic improvements—including fair wages and raises, 401(k) matching, affordable insurance, and the restoration of earned vacation time that was taken away and replaced with an “earn-as-you-go” system.

Adding to frustrations, the National Labor Relations Board is currently investigating four open Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges against MPP. The charges allege that the company:

Coercively interrogating employees and removing union literature from employees’ personal belongings
Case No. 25-CA-344432 – Filed June 14, 2024
Surveilling employees for union activity
Case No. 25-CA-347666 – Filed August 5, 2024
Withholding raises for 2024 and refusing to perform annual evaluations
Case No. 25-CA-352384 – Filed October 9, 2024
Coordinating a surprise search with police and K-9 units without bargaining with the union to impasse
Case No. 25-CA-364136 – Filed April 21, 2025

“It felt like a raid — police with dogs going through the facility with no warning,” said one MPP worker. “There was no incident or reason for it. It felt like an attempt to scare us, to punish us for standing together. We’re not the enemy. We’re the people who’ve kept this place running and helped build MPP into what it is. This community has always supported this company, but we deserve respect and fairness in return.”

These charges allege serious violations of federal labor law, including surveillance, interrogation, unilateral changes to working conditions, and bad faith bargaining. More information about the open cases can be found at the National Labor Relations Board’s public docket: https://www.nlrb.gov/search/case.

Though MPP remains a major employer in the close-knit town of Campbellsburg, Indiana, workers argue the company has not acted in a way that reflects shared values or community responsibility.

MPP’s private equity owner, Mill Point Capital, recently sold the company’s real estate to an outside firm in a sale-leaseback deal. The union is concerned this real estate transaction delivered a large cash payout to investors while saddling the company with long-term lease obligations and is investigating further. The union workers feel that that real estate decision, combined with the company’s perceived stalling at the bargaining table, raises serious questions about the company’s long-term stability and commitment to the workers and town it relies on.

MPP Workers are calling on company leadership to stop their tactics and negotiate in good faith. They are also encouraging community members to show support, as the fight for a fair contract is also a fight for good jobs and economic stability in Campbellsburg.

Campbellsburg, Indiana, isn’t the only MPP site experiencing rising labor tensions. On Wednesday May 21, 2025, MPP union workers at MPP’s St.Marys, Pennsylvania, facility overwhelmingly authorized a strike after rejecting the company’s contract offers for the fourth time. Workers described the proposal as deeply offensive, citing that the modest raises offered would be wiped out by increased healthcare costs and other cuts, including a reduced 401(k) match and the elimination of bonus pay for perfect attendance, which many rely on to make ends meet.

MPP is a manufacturer of powder metal components intended for the automotive, hydraulic and medical sectors. Workers at MPP make customized engineered gears and sprockets. Some of its major customers include Danfoss Power Solutions, Hydro-Gear, Takako America Co., Inc, Tuff Torq Corporation, Bosch Rexroth Corporation, Pentair, Fass Diesel Fuel Systems, JB Industries. MPP is a privately held portfolio company of Mill Point Capital.

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As the Industrial Division of CWA, IUE-CWA represents a force of 150,000 active and retired men and women united collectively to seek dignity on the job and a secure future for ourselves, our children and all future generations. IUE-CWA represents production workers at 3 of the 7 US-based MPP plants. MPP has one additional plant in China.

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