Preview

Made in Dagenham Review

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
262 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Made in Dagenham Review
Labor Relations September 25, 2012

Reaction Paper: Made in Dagenham Film

In the film that we’ve watched entitled Made in Dagenham, we have seen how powerful strikes can be. It is done so that the rights of the workers will be upheld, and that, only upon compliance of the Legal Requirements may it be declared a valid strike. Many are the reasons why workers would engage in such an activity, one of which was the discrimination of gender which the film presented. We have also seen in the film how it would take one brave union leader to lead a strike in upholding the rights of the workers and that engaging in a strike would require sacrifice in the part of the striking employees since they are not entitled to payment of wages for unworked days during the period of the strike. We have seen the struggles they had between their families during those days.
Also, the film showed an application of the valid ground for strike or lockout, that is, strike should be a means of last resort after they have exerted all efforts to resolve the unfair labor practices. It was seen in the film when the two women representatives had a meeting with the mediation board in resolving the discrimination of gender by paying the female workers lower wages than the male workers. What is most amazing was that the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike led to the establishment of the Equal Pay Act in 1970, which banned the discrimination on pay and working conditions between men and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Max Blanck and Isaac Harris who were the owners of this factory put extreme pressure on the workers. There was no government oversight over working conditions, there were no laws protecting the workers, and there was physically no protection for the workers. During October of 1909 the workers of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory went on strike. When this happened, Blanck and Harris took the strike as a personal attack. They took it that way because they built the business from scratch; they believed they had achieved the American dream and from that they believed they were making America great. They were not going to be told how to run their business by a group of “factory girls”.…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The women were put into a contract for twelve months, and those who left early were blacklisted. On top of this, the contract stated that the payments were made monthly. Factory Rules from the Handbook of Lowell. This was very suspicious, as in the contract it only stated their one-year contract and when they were going to be paid, but the amount they were getting paid was fluid and up to the mill owners, and the mill owners ended up cheating the women out of their deserved pay. Even though the pay wasn't fair towards the women, the mills offered the women opportunities they didn't get anywhere else, like education and a voice in society.…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the early part of the 1930’s, most workers strikes ended in a whimper. Growers were working with the law enforcement and developed a track record of terminating strikes easily with little or no pushback.4 This was due in part because the newly formed WUIL was comprised mostly of amateurs who had no experience in striking, nor did they have any idea how to plan strikes or the leadership to execute it.5 Further, once the Mexican Mutual Aid Society succeeded the WUIL, it too was ineffective in its leadership.6 The continuous lack of trailblazers needed to endure the long…

    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bama Inc.

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages

    * Point of the potential for loss of earnings, denial of worker’s compensation, and possible loss of employment during strikes.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    an explanation for union decline. Since the 1980s there has been an increase in the…

    • 2670 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    triangle fire

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The women trade union league workers wanted shorter hours, better pay, safer shops, and unions. They decided to no longer keep quiet, so they went on strike. These women were the leaders of the largest women strike in American history. More than 50 factories gave in to their workers demand but the triangle factory owner’s Max Blanck and Isaac Harris refused to surrender. The owners tried so hard to stop these women from protesting that they even paid police and prostitutes to beat these women. Blanck and Harris were selfish people who only wanted to make money to defeat competition. They made sure these women were working hard in fear that those small companies will take over. Their terrible treatment brought the women an unexpected supporter, Anne Morgan. Later on she withdrew her support due to the fact that the workers wanted unions, which she did not support.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Due to the demand of goods and services English workers were not treated fairly. Women workers were paid half of what a man would have been paid less. The education was not important or even allowed for some children. Workers did not have representation to fight for they’re rights. (DOC#7) This began unions for…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the competition of the mill towns grew the supply and demand dropped the prices. The high profits started to decrease, this caused the wages to go down but the amount of work to go up. The girl’s wages were reduced by fifteen percent. In 1834 the woman would not accept these changes and started a strike to protest the wage cuts. The women were not successful with this strike. In 1836 the company increased the women’s rent for the boarding houses. After 1500 of the girls walked out with the support of the community and approximately two weeks it was determined that the company had violated the agreement and the rent was lowered. In 1845 the women started a strike to protest the long working hours. The girls obtained signatures on petitions requesting 10 hour work days. After some community appearances and the petitions the company reduced the work day to eleven hours instead of fourteen…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The workers' rights seemed to be more than an important issue to the strike situation. Among many things at hand here, a factor that comes into play is the working conditions. The machines being used in the mills were far from safe as one could easily become injured by the fast moving cranks and pullys. The amount of work they had to do and the time in which they did it is more than impressive to me. It is easy to see how the workers were pushed to the limits of strike. On top of all of that they were getting paid minimum wage for this invigorating work. It was clear that a change had to be made and it took these workers to unite to get it done. The workers rights maintained the strike as it was these rights that were in question in settling the strike. After all, this…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Finally in 1903 the National Women’s Trade Union League was established to advocate for fair wages and work environments for women. The visual also uses a rhetorical question to ask why a woman would ever want to work in a place where she is mistreated and discredited for her work. This is effective in influencing something to be done about unjust workplaces. It also displays examples of logos because it would not be logical for this discriminatory behavior to continue. So finally in 1920 the Department of Labor was formed to collect information about women in the workforce and develop better working conditions. This time period is now considered the second reform of women’s rights.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women's Rights Dbq Essay

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages

    To sum it up, Women in England and America experienced inequality because they were paid less than men, worked more hours than the men, and their working conditions were very tough. In addition to the above issues, women also had to deal with social issues that men did not face. There is no doubt, that women and children should not have been treated in this manner or subjected to the working conditions that they faced at the textile mills or at…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the definition of a trade union is: the association of labourers in a particular trade, industry, or company, created for the purpose of securing improvements in pay, benefits, working conditions, or social and political status through collective bargaining. As this definition suggests, trade unions are in place to allow workers to protect as well as influence many important aspects and decisions regarding their employment. More specifically, female workers benefit greatly from trade unions since there is no gender discrimination which in the past has played a major role in women’s labour force participation rates. Women in unionized employment are more likely to experience an increase in earnings, non-wage benefits and job security than women in non-unionized employment.…

    • 1587 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the industrial growth started in the 1800s many factory owners began to hire women. Majority of the women who worked in the factories were poor, young, unmarried or widows, women of the middle-class were privileged to stay at home to provide their domestic duties. Women were paid lower then men due to women were subordinate to them., it did not matter what kind of quality the women produced. Any income women received legally belonged to their husbands and with that status employers were able to keep women’s wages low. Eventually women created labor associations because they wanted to sort issues out such as the terrible working conditions, low pay, and longer hours. The Female Labor Reform met once a week to discuss conditions that needed to be improved. Even though they were doubted by many that they would not make any difference and would not be listened to, they never gave up.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    United Auto Workers

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The UAW not only impacted working conditions for the GM workers of the time but affected working conditions for future generations across the U.S. The GM sit down strike in Flint, Michigan in 1936 changed American labor history and world labor history. The young Auto United Workers took a stand by sitting down and protesting in the factory. They were sick of the way they were being mistreated and underpaid. The employers fought back by turning down the heat in the winter and by cutting off all electricity. On February 11, 1937, the workers finally prevailed and got what they wanted: a contract agreement and respect. They received a contract between GM and the UAW. Basically, this contract stated that GM recognized the UAW as the official bargaining agent for the workers. GM workers also won higher wages; those who made the cars could finally afford to buy them. This was good for the economy. More money meant more consumption. The pension and wages won by the workers raised the standard of living for the whole country.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Disputes should be settled efficiently and effectively to avoid conflict and industrial action that would have adverse economic consequences. Trade unions should have ensured that workers demands are justifiable and within reason also that workers right are not infringed in any way changes in working conditions and wages should be sustainable and should not be a financial burden to business.at the same time unions should acknowledge that there is an inherent conflict of interest labour and capital that can never be completely eroded workers want higher wages and owners higher profit it is the role of trade unions to facilitate a balanced consensus for parties involved. Although the marikana massacre is now history the memory and scars linger on. This experience has afforded the government, labour and business an opportunity to learn from the mistakes and strive for better industrial and employee’s relations. Transformation of the mining industry is necessary to improve working and living conditions if causes leading up to the events are not decisively dealt with sadly this may not be the last we see of such events and this may just be the dreaded…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays