Friction Dynamics workers must wait for a resolution to their dispute

Sacked workers at a car parts factory are continuing to wait for an end to a two-year-old industrial dispute.

Workers at the Friction Dynamics plant in Caernarfon, north Wales, won an industrial tribunal which ruled they were unfairly dismissed.

The 86 workers were dismissed by factory owner Craig Smith eight weeks into a strike. But Mr Smith will go before a High Court judge in London to make a case to appeal against the tribunal's ruling.

The hearing will be held in private, and union officials do not expect a ruling from the judge for a further week.

Picket

Workers plan to continue a picket line, which has been in place for two years, until their case has been resolved.

Friction Dynamics workers have nominated Jack Dromey for election as general secretary in the current campaign for leader of the Transport and General Workers Union.

Mr Dromey has said that, if elected, he will work to promote legislation which will end laws he claims make "British workers the easiest, quickest and cheapest to sack in Europe.

"My task will be to build on their legacy, winning a change in the law that outlaws the sacking of striking workers," he added.

Strike

The 86 workers at Friction Dynamics, which makes brake and clutch components, began a continuous 24-hour strike in April 2001 after the introduction of a pay cut and other changes to working conditions.

Eight weeks into the dispute, they were sacked by Mr Smith.

An industrial tribunal concluded in November that Mr Smith had unfairly dismissed his staff without making any attempt to resolve the dispute.

Following the tribunal ruling, the workers and their supporters held a victory march through Caernarfon.

But Mr Smith's appeal against the decision means the dispute will be prolonged until it is found out whether he can contest the tribunal's findings.