In June 1968, 187 women machinists walked out of the Ford factory in Dagenham and changed British history.
The Strike Begins
The women worked in the factory's seat cover sewing room, a job classified as "unskilled" despite requiring considerable training. Ford paid them 85 per cent of the male "unskilled" rate. When the women discovered men on the same grade earned significantly more, they stopped work.
The dispute lasted three weeks. Production at the Dagenham plant ground to a halt. Without seat covers, Ford could not complete vehicle assembly. The factory, which employed thousands of local men, faced closure.
The women received no strike pay. Many were the primary earners in their households. They picketed the factory gates, gaining support from local trade unionists and, eventually, national attention.
Barbara Castle Steps In
The strike reached the desks of government ministers. Barbara Castle, then Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, met with the women at the Ministry. She later described the encounter as pivotal to her understanding of workplace inequality.
The strike concluded with Ford agreeing to raise the women's wages to 92 per cent of the male rate, with a promise of full parity the following year. The settlement fell short of immediate equality, but the principle was established.
The Equal Pay Act
The Dagenham strike directly influenced the Equal Pay Act 1970. Castle, who had met the strikers, sponsored the legislation. The Act made it illegal to pay women less than men for equivalent work. It came into force in 1975.
The 2010 film "Made in Dagenham" dramatised these events, bringing the story to new generations. Several of the original strikers attended the premiere.
Legacy in Dagenham
The Dagenham Ford plant closed in 2013 after more than 80 years of operation. The site is now part of the London Sustainable Industries Park. A blue plaque on Chester Road commemorates the 1968 strike.
The machinists' action remains a defining part of Dagenham's identity: a working-class town where local women forced national change.