Members of CAW Local 444 peacefully picket Thursday morning at the Toromont/Caterpillar dealership in Maidstone. (Pat Jeflyn/CBC News)

In a show of solidarity, members of CAW Local 444 are holding an information picket line Thursday morning at the Toromont/Caterpillar dealership in Maidstone.

The local event is part of a national protest against Caterpillar, which locked out CAW members from its Electro-Motive Diesel locomotive plant in London on New Year's Day, after contract negotiations broke off.

According to the union, customers at dealerships and service centres in a dozen cities across Canada will be greeted by information pickets. Union members are asking customers to tell the company they want fairness for the locked-out workers.

"We’re not here to disrupt anything or cause problems," Local 444 president Rick Laporte said.

Caterpillar is demanding pay cuts of up to 50 per cent.

Locked-out Electro-Motive employee Nelson Sarty said he currently makes $35/hr and the company wants to pay him $18/hr under a new collective agreement.

"This isn't a fight just about us. It's a fight for the middle class across Canada," he said.

The national pickets coincided with the announcement of the company's year-end earnings.

Caterpillar revealed Thursday it had record-high sales and a profit of nearly $5 billion US last year, up 83 per cent from $2.7 billion US in 2010. Profit per share was $7.40 US, up 78 per cent.

"This is a company that’s certainly not struggling," Laporte said.

The union said it believes the company is being greedy and immoral given that Caterpillar chief executive Doug Oberhelman received $10.5 million US in earnings last year, twice what he got the year earlier.

"There's no reason they can't at least continue to give their workers what they've been given over the last number of years," Laporte said.

Employees at the Maidstone dealership declined to comment on the picket.

With files from Canadian Press