The Ferodo Factory
Words and Photographs - Jamie Stevens
The
Ferodo factory
located in Griffiths
Crossing, Caernarfon
was once a working
factory
that
manufactured
friction
products,
mainly car brake
parts
made
of
asbestos
for
the
motor
vehicle
industry.
It
was
officially opened in
1962 by Princess
Margaret. By the late
1960s, the company
employed up to 1,100
people. In 1997, it
was
bought
by
American
Craig
Smith and renamed
Friction
Dynamics
with a workforce of
around
220.
Problems started to
occur with the new
owner, and in April 2001
the
Transport
and
General Workers Union
(T&G)
members
at
Friction
Dynamics
staged industrial action
in a dispute over pay
and conditions where 86
workers went on strike.
Friction
Dynamics
bosses later sacked the
T&G
members
only
several weeks after the
picket
at
the
site
entrance had started.
Several marches took
place
throughout
Caernarfon which were
supported by the local
community. In October
2002, an employment
tribunal went ahead in
Liverpool, and found the
workers were unfairly
dismissed.
To
avoid
paying compensation to
the workers, Friction
Dynamics called in the
administrators and in
August 2003 all workers
were made redundant.
Within three weeks of
administration, a new
company was set up
using
the
name
Dynamex Friction which
sparked
fury
with
workers who had been
previously
dismissed.
After a two-and-a-halfyear long picket outside
the site entrance, the
T&G called off their
protest in Christmas
2003.
In
September
2004, an employment
tribunal
ruled
that
Friction Dynamics and
Dynamex Friction were