Union members returns to picket line on anniversary of Three Forks lockout

THREE FORKS — Shawn Eva swept the asphalt in front of the gate that leads to Imerys Talc Plant as Wade Horsley spray-painted a red line across the roadway.

“We’re redoing the line, so people don’t forget,” said Eva, who was one of 32 union workers locked out of the plant on Aug. 2, 2018 after contract negotiations with Imerys fell apart. The lockout lasted three months.

A handful of union workers gathered outside the plant when their shift ended on Friday afternoon for the first anniversary of the lockout. They drank beer, gave toasts and told stories as they stood near the picket line they once manned for 24 hours a day.

“We lived out here for three months without insurance and income and stuck with each other through that,” Horsley said. “I stuck with my guys then and I always will.”

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