Evans is one of 15 United Steelworkers of America (USWA) members who were arrested and charged with trespassing, following the well-attended one-year anniversary rally and march on September 11. That action included an impromptu, brief, and entirely peaceful walk through the yard of the plant, after entering an open gate, by several hundred strikers and supporters. The strikers are members of USWA Local 303L.

Since then, the company has also filed suit in Adams County Chancery Court seeking an injunction against the union to restrict picketing. The company is asking the court to bar union members from trespassing at its Natchez facility, picketing or assembling within 10 yards of the factory gates, and having more than two people gather outside the plant. The company unsuccessfully sought a similar injunction early in the strike, Evans noted.

Meanwhile, an explosion at the plant October 4 seriously injured two replacement workers. "One of the banburys blew up," Evans said, citing the accident as an example of what happens when untrained people are expected to operate complex and dangerous equipment. A banbury is a machine for mixing the raw, melted rubber and carbon black dust to create the material used to make tires.

Initial reports in the October 4 Natchez Democrat about the accident indicate that dust created by the banbury – which had been idle for several months, according to Evans – ignited, causing the explosion. Two scabs' clothes caught on fire, seriously burning both. Clyde Payne, director of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Mississippi office told the Natchez Democrat that OSHA would investigate the accident. The plant has had to pay fines to OSHA in the past for violations, including poor housekeeping and electrical problems, Payne said.

Susan LaMont is a member of USWA Local 2122 in Fairfield, Alabama.  
 
 
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