there was a big glass room, where the manager used to sit. he would observe us all from that room. he would keep an eye on us. if you were going to the toilet and it took too long, then he would ask why, what were you up to? the unlikely leader of the grunwick strike, jayaben desai, would challenge the stereotype of the submissive asian woman. i was on the picket line from the first day. we ladies came out with mrs desai. how long will you stay here? unless, when we will finish this dispute. . a year? any time. five years? ten years. unions from across
of usdaw, the shop workers union, |to mrs desai, who is the treasurer| of the strike committee. thank you very much for coming along. . translation: jayaben desai was a very strong woman. . she had made up her mind to bring the union into the factory. ..because our women were treated badly. we believed that if women have so many rights in this country, then why can t we have them too? grunwick relied upon the new influx of asians from east africa to supply its workforce. commonly thought passive and hard working, the tables were about to turn. in the grunwick factory,
and a watershed moment for canada s indigenous people. but we start in london and a story about the strikers in saris, a group of south asian women employed in the grunwick film processing factory. because of the poor working conditions there, they decided to take a stand for workers rights and their action captured the imagination of many other trade unionists, as lakshmi patel told me. for housewife mrs jayaben desai, her 220th day on the picket line was marked by a presentation. i this is a presentation on behalfl of the north west london branch of usdaw, the shop workers union, |to mrs desai, who is the treasurer| of the strike committee. thank you very much for coming along. . translation: jayaben desai was a very strong woman. . she had made up her mind to bring the union into the factory. ..because our women
all the unions were there, with big banners. there were a lot of policemen. you could see them all over the street. and in the middle of them was jayaben. loud cheering. in spite of mass support, the strike committee found its power to act ever more circumscribed. two years after it had begun, the strike was called off. jayaben was not upset with the defeat at all. we felt that asian women in england had fought for two years for the union. and we were proud of that fact. the reason we were fighting, we have achieved.
the unlikely leader of the grunwick strike, jayaben desai, would challenge the stereotype of the submissive asian woman. i was on the picket line from the first day. we ladies came out with mrs desai. how long will you stay here? unless, when we will finish this dispute. . a year? any time. five years? ten years. unions from across england supported us. there were two such piles, around 70 sacks in all, and they d been building up since the local branch of the postal union voted overwhelmingly tojoin the boycott. all: the workers united will never be defeated! |