The bosses imposed the lockout, now in its fifth week, when the workers returned to the plant following a week-long strike. The unionists had voted to walk off the job by 93 percent.

At the center of the company’s demands is a proposal to turn all negotiations with the union over wages and working conditions to a "works council" made up of employees picked by the bosses. In previous months the owner, Craig Smith, had announced 24 redundancies (layoffs), the end of a system of payment of union dues through the company payroll, known as "check-off," and had refused to negotiate with the current union leaders.

Support for the workers has come from local residents, including one farmer. Strikers have organized a town center collection to raise strike funds and have been successful in turning back a majority of lorries delivering supplies to the plant. A leader of the Welsh Assembly, Labour Party member Rhodri Morgan, has visited the picket line to express support.

The company has hired a handful of scabs who have been forced to accept a 15 percent wage cut since starting work. The same pay cut has been imposed on about 15 skilled workers who are members of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) who are not locked out. Currently the company is demanding that members of the AEEU perform some of the work done previously by locked-out members of the TGWU.

TGWU branch secretary Barry Williams, one of those earmarked for redundancy, commented, "Smith says that he is willing to talk to the union, but what he is not prepared to do is sit down and negotiate. All of us are adamant that we will stay out as long as it takes. We are determined to win."

The outcome of the strike will have an impact on workers and bosses across the region, which has an unemployment rate that is double the average in Britain.

Donations and messages of support can be sent to Tom Jones, Regional organizer TGWU, 17 Sergontium House, Caernarfon, north Wales.  
 
 
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