| 6pm (March 12) Arriving on the picket lines, there are about 50 workers and a well-organised protest in place. It's just before dusk and the prospect of another long and cold night beckons, but this does nothing to dampen the pickets' spirits. A few introductions and warm welcomes follow initial moments of caution for the workers. With management lies and rumour rife, they are understandably nervous of strange faces. Once introduced the welcome is touchingly considerate - I am continually asked if I am warm enough or whether I would like a hot drink. I am offered tea, coffee or biscuits and snacks of various types. Other workers approach and are very eager to tell me the latest news and talk about their personal experiences. The picket is highly efficient. Three wood-filled oil drums serve as heating, the fuel provided by copious amounts of wood broken from donated pallets. Keeping the fire stoked and constantly burning is a continuous process that endures throughout the night. A tent has been erected along a wall, providing a meeting place, storage space and emergency shelter if the weather turns bad. Workers have picketed the main gates, initially by day, but since March they have progressed to 24-hour pickets on a workers' shift system that mirrors their attendance on any normal working day or night. The lockout began on Saturday February 18 and is still ongoing. After a previous, brief and peaceful occupation of the plant that was witnessed by police, management lies have reached an all-time height. 10pm (March 12) Darkness has enveloped the site, the area is dimly lit and the only lights emanate from the gate house, which is manned 24 hours, and the blazing oil barrels around which people congregate to keep warm. The second shift has arrived and there are new faces to meet and greet. The pickets are organised in the exact shifts they run inside the factory. A board on a wall serves as a check list and for updated info and news. Having made friends so quickly with the first shift, it is rather saddening to see them go and new faces arrive - and the introductions and welcomes begin all over again. The main road is quiet. There are only a few vehicles now where once it was manic. There's the occasional passing police car with sirens blaring. A few heads turn as it pelts past on its way to destinations unknown. Large articulated trucks from the Kingsmill bread company enter and leave the main gate, as the MMP site is shared by other companies. The pickets are consistently peaceful and have no argument with other companies or the drivers. The passing trucks are greeted with waves and drivers shout out their support for the pickets. Accompanying the sound of idling engines are scents of diesel fuel, the hiss of airbrakes and the rattle of the gate house locks. Nothing's gone out of the site. 1am (March 12) It's lunch time, a strange ritual considering it's gone 1am. The talk is of chicken and chips cooked on the oil drums. Some may think this extravagant, but 24-hourr picket duty is no joke. The stakes here could not be higher - people's livelihoods are on the line. Keeping a continuous and well-manned picket going takes much organising and commitment by all involved, and being outside on cold nights, workers have to take care of themselves and hot food is an essential part of this. It also keeps up morale, for when it's cold and the world is dark and quiet it's all too easy to let primitive fears fill one's head. Industrial estates are bleak places at the best of times, particularly at night. The gate house and its pickets are silhouetted in the camp fires. A lone light appears like an oasis of hope in an industrial wilderness. 3am (March 13) The night wears on, and for many lunch is a distant memory. These are the lonely moments. The world is asleep in darkness and the cold stalks the pickets at the gate house. No amount of blazing wood can adequately keep it at bay. Pickets deploy subtle tricks to distract from the chill. Topics of conversation vary wildly and frequent laughter provides a welcome distraction. Much amusement ensues as pickets recall their attempts to thoroughly cook the chicken dinner to ensure it was safe to eat and did not give everyone the trots. They approach the cooking with such vigour that the chickens actually catch fire in the tin and have to be suitably extinguished without ruining the food. All this is watched in bewilderment by security guards in the gate house. Inevitably the discussions centre more and more around the future. Many at the factory have worked there for a long time, varying from seven to 40 years in most cases. No-one knows what the management has planned, but it seems that the bosses don't seem to have a clue either. Worryingly, the Unite union's efforts to clarify what is going on have proved difficult in the current climate of lies and rumour. Everyone knew and accepted that some redundancies would have to be made and these were going to be on a voluntary basis, but now management has come back with an even worse offer and a lockout to add to the uncertainty. 5.35am (March 13) The darkness slowly pales as the first faint streaks of dawn dribble across the sky from the east. All around the site pickets stir, stamping the cold out of tired limbs and proceeding to prepare the ground for the day shift due at 6. The oil drum fires are de-ashed and relit and new fresh wood is prepared. Rubbish is bagged and binned and the whole site swept clean, as it has been throughout the long night. This is not done for effect - this is the way of proud and conscientious workers manning the pickets. Great care is also taken when relighting the fire closest to the main road, so as not to endanger the stuffed horse adopted by and placed there by the pickets. It's slightly tatty and minus a tail, but his scruffy appearance and glass-eyed stare reflecting the pickets' fires are a source of amusement to many passers-by and motorists. 5.50am (March 13) The day shift arrives. Just as if they were working a normal shift in the factory, no-one arrives late. Everyone knows what is at stake here and the support from the public and other workers in other workplaces is strong and gratefully received and appreciated. |