METROPOLIS, Ill. (AP) — Union-backed workers at a southern Illinois plant that helps make nuclear fuel are locked out of the work site because of a labor dispute.

KFVS-TV reported Saturday the lockout involving the Honeywell plant in Metropolis follows the failure by the company and the United Steel Workers union to reach a deal affecting some 130 union workers before the latest contract expired Friday.

Honeywell spokesman Peter Dalpe says the plant will continue operating with federally trained salaried workers until a deal is reached.

Union workers at the plant also were locked out of the site in 2010 for more than a year during a contract dispute.

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