Philip Alves

The producers of the fifth estate, the CBC’s investigative TV series, called me up one day asking if they could use some photos I shot in early July, 2008, of a protest by Progressive Moulded Products employees after the company shut its doors. I jumped at the chance.

Anger. Despair. Hope. A year after the abrupt closing of bankrupt auto parts maker Progressive Moulded Products, feelings among many of the company’s nearly 2,400 former workers are mixed.

Charges against dozens of protesting ex-employees of bankrupt Progressive Moulded Products were dropped this week. The workers had been charged last week with violating court injunctions that declared their blockade illegal.

Facing potential court-ordered police action, laid-off workers blockading Progressive Moulded Products have turned to the Canadian Auto Workers for help.