McLean expressed the sentiments of many workers as they returned to the picket line at the company’s front entrance after Judge Brian Napier ruled October 27 against the Edinburgh Woollen Mill bosses, who claimed the workers weren’t picketing a worksite entrance. Strike committee member Alison McCaughie said that when she called to inform the shift working that day of the ruling, workers cheered for the victory.

The bosses took court action claiming that the picketing was illegal and a threat to safety because it took place in front of a company retail store and not the entrance to the plant. Days earlier the bosses had instructed workers not to use that entrance to come into or go out of the plant. The judge ruled, however, that the gate was the accepted main entrance to the factory at the time the industrial action commenced and that it was clear the company’s main purpose was to undermine legal industrial action.

After the judge’s ruling the company put up signs at the main gate stating parking is for customers only and that all deliveries must made at the side entrance.

As a result of the workers’ actions retail sales have slumped by up to 25 percent, according to McCaughie. Support for the picketers remains solid. Whistles are blown in response to hoots from passing cars and trucks and loud cheers are heard when retail store customers turn back on hearing about the strike action.

In an attempt to weaken this kind of solidarity, the bosses have published ads locally and are distributing flyers to customers at the retail store claiming that the store and the mill are two different companies, even though they have the same owner.

“We’re all determined now not to back down,” said McCaughie. To take on company threats, strikers here have reorganized picketing to boost their presence in the daytime. The company has refused to talk with the union about a pay increase. Some workers’ basic pay starts at £3.29 an hour, requiring extra hard work on piece rate to make the £5.35 minimum wage (£1= US$1.90).

At the same time the company is pressing disciplinary action against four workers, accusing them of threatening the six nonunion strikebreakers. McCaughie said strikers are not intimidated and plan selective strike action through mid-December. They will also join a November 11 demonstration by Community trade union members fighting jobs cuts at a plant in Sterling.
 
 
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