The workers are planning to turn out en masse with their supporters to present their case for reinstatement. On the day of our visit, a large sign on the picket line read "59 days" until the hearing. Each day, we were told, the number is reduced by one.

"By the time the tribunal case is heard on October 7, the workers will have been outside the gates for 17 months," said John Davies. The union leader will be the test case at the hearing. "All the locked-out workers will be present for the hearing and other supporters have said they’re coming," he said.

Friction Dynamics owner Craig Smith launched the lockout after members of the Transport and General Workers’ Union held a one-week strike in April 2001. Workers had walked out to protest a company drive to impose a 15 percent wage cut, end shift pay, and introduce longer working days with no overtime. The company also sought to restrict union meetings and the number of shop stewards at the plant.

Union members rejected the concessions and approved a walkout by a 93 percent margin. Upon returning to work after the one-week strike, the bosses handed workers an unscheduled "holiday," effectively locking them out. In response the workers set up picket lines to continue their fight. Owner Craig Smith then sacked 87 workers and carried out a previously announced redundancy (layoff) of 24 more.

On the picket line Dewi Williams said that it is important for the union to win a favorable ruling from the industrial court, and noted that the fight is "not just for ourselves." Williams was two months short of retiring when the lockout started and refused to work despite being offered his job back.

"Employers around the country are looking at this dispute," he said. "They know that the conditions the scabs are working under are what any employer would love. They’re at their beck and call. They are called in for two hours at night without notice. They are moved from job to job at will. They’re not getting shift pay even when they pull people in at night. They’re not getting overtime pay until after 48 hours of work, and they include Saturday and Sunday as part of the 48 hours when it suits them."

The local newspaper reported April 25 that Michael Short, one of the scab workers, lost the thumb and all the fingers on his right hand after his glove was caught in a metal rolling machine at the plant last October. Owing to the seriousness of the case the Caernarfon Magistrates ruled that it should be taken up by a Crown Court for sentencing. On June 28 the court fined the company £20,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £5,697 (£1 = US $1.53).

The continuing support the union members have in the community and the labor movement is readily evident on the picket line. Around one in three drivers of cars and lorries that pass the picket line toots their horn. Recent contributions include £1,400 from the Communications Workers and Firefighters, raised at national conferences of the two unions in Blackpool. Many unions continue to send donations on a regular basis.  
 
 
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