9 November, 2010A new film released this year brings to life a chapter of the struggle for equal pay for equal work in 1968 at a Ford plant in Dagenham, England where female machinists went on strike, demanding the same pay as the men in the factory. The film is based on a true story.
ENGLAND: Released in the UK this September, Made in Dagenham brings to life a little-known chapter of the struggle for equal pay for equal work in 1968 at a Ford plant in Dagenham, England where female machinists went on strike, demanding the same pay as the men in the factory.
A documentary which included the same true story was featured at the IMF's 2008 Geneva Labour Film shorts Festival: The Equal Pay Story: Scenes from a Turbulent History (TUC/ITUC, UK, 2007) it was an historical account of the long and difficult struggle to win equal pay for women workers in early industrial Britain. The film demonstrated how women demanded equal pay, often in the face of opposition inside and outside the trade union.
This is a good example of how union issues are increasingly being translated into film. Each year the IMF invites unions, workers and film makers to submit films for the Geneva Labour Film Shorts event.