People And Nature shares an article about striking women in 1970s Leeds.
I am very pleased to publish today an article about the Leeds clothing workers’ strike of 1970:
“You’re not a worker, you’re a pair of hands.” How Leeds women workers struck back, by Liz Leicester.
It describes an unofficial strike by almost 30,000 clothing workers who demanded an increase in the hourly pay rate of one shilling (5 pence, worth about 75 pence today, taking into account).
The action snowballed as the strikers, mostly women, marched around the city calling on others to join them. They were angry at an agreement signed between their union and the employers’ federation which discriminated against women workers.
The article is based on a talk Liz gave in December 2018 in London.
“You’re not a worker, you’re a pair of hands.” How Leeds women workers struck back, by Liz Leicester.
It describes an unofficial strike by almost 30,000 clothing workers who demanded an increase in the hourly pay rate of one shilling (5 pence, worth about 75 pence today, taking into account).
The action snowballed as the strikers, mostly women, marched around the city calling on others to join them. They were angry at an agreement signed between their union and the employers’ federation which discriminated against women workers.
The article is based on a talk Liz gave in December 2018 in London.
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| Strikers on the march, 1970. From the Secret Library Leeds blog / Yorkshire Evening Post |
There was an acclaimed play broadcast on the BBC in the early 1970s "Leeds United" (couldn't resist lol!) which dealt with the struggles of the Leeds clothing workers.
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