Striking Narratives: class, gender and ethnicity in the ‘Great Grunwick Strike’, London, UK, 1976–1978

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which dominant narratives and images constructed the industrial dispute that took place between 1976 and 1978 at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Britain's capital city, London. Since 1978, this strike has achieved almost mythic status in British labour history, as the moment when the trade unions supported the demands of minority women workers. The authors argue that the dominant narratives and images disguise the complexity of events and the diversity of the strikers, constructing a narrative of success and celebration, even though the strikers were not re-employed.