On this day, 20 August 1976, the Grunwick strike began in London when Devshi Bhudia was dismissed from a photo processing plant for working too slowly and three colleagues walked out in his support.
Three days later they began picketing in what became an iconic dispute and one of the key struggles of the working class, particularly the Asian and female working class in the UK in the late 20th century.
One of the strikers, Sunil Desai, whose mother Jayaben became a key leader of the strike, told his manager before walking out: “What you are running is not a factory, it is a zoo. But in a zoo there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance on your fingertips. Others are lions who can bite your head off. We are those lions, Mr Manager.”
The workers remained out for nearly two years, and while they were unsuccessful in achieving their stated aims, they helped transform the UK workers’ movement by pushing white union workers to recognise Asian, Black and migrant workers as their fellow workers rather than as rivals for jobs.
Learn the history of the strike in our new, expanded and improved podcast episodes 67-68: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/grunwick-strike-1976/
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