About this Event
In February 1970, a four-week-long unofficial strike in opposition to the terms of a National Agreement negotiated between the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers (NUTGW) and the Clothing Manufacturers Federation started at John Collier’s and spread throughout the clothing industry in Leeds, as strikers used flying pickets to encourage others to strike. As part of the Gender Equalities at Work project, the Leeds Clothing Workers Strike will be situated within a timeline of equal pay disputes between 1964 and 1986 (discussed in an earlier post) alongside renowned strikes such as the 1968 Ford Sewing Machinists Strike and 1976 Trico Equal Pay Strike, as well as lesser-known disputes, to demonstrate trade union and women union activists’ engagement with the Equal Pay Act 1970.
The 1970 Leeds Clothing Workers Strike is memorialised in the BBC’s Play for Today, Leeds – United! (BBC1, 31 October 1974), which provides a dramatized account of the women-led dispute, with renowned English actors Lynne Perrie and Lori Wells taking on the play's lead roles.
The Gender Equalities at Work team is delighted to be hosting a screening of Leeds - United! at Bristol's iconic Watershed arts venue, following by a discussion with the team's Professor Hazel Conley and Dr Frances C Galt, both of the University of the West of England.
Joyce Kennedy, Lynne Perrie and Olga Grahame as striking workers in Leeds – United! Reproduced with permission from the BBC Archives Photo Library
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Watershed, 1 Canon's Road, Bristol, United Kingdom
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