A cast has been announced this week for a recreation of the infamous Grunwick’s film-processing strike, which lasted two years and became a nationwide campaign for trade union and immigrant workers’ rights led by Indian-born mother-of-two Jayaben Desai.
A mural to honour Jayaben, who died in 2010 aged 77, was unveiled in Ealing Road, Wembley in 2021.
Now rehearsals have started for the show We Are the Lions, Mr Manager! by Townsend Theatre Productions. It will open at Willesden Green Library on September 27.
The title is inspired by what the 4ft10ins immigrant worker had told 6ft-tall Grunwick manager Malcom Alden: “What you are running is not a factory — it’s a zoo.
“There are monkeys who dance on your fingertips. Others are lions who can bite your head off — we are those lions, Mr Manager!”
The strike, which started on August 20, 1976, led to daily pickets by the following summer, with 20,000 protesters from all over the country turning up outside Grunwick’s film-processing laboratories in Chapter Road.
Things usually got rough, with pickets clashing with police and more than 500 arrests during the long-running dispute.
It grew into a national debate on workers’ rights versus bosses’ freedom to manage, taking up the front pages of the national press and dominating radio and TV news.
The BBC’s Radio London broadcast a 90-minute live audience debate at the height of the dispute, with participants from both sides invited by the station’s news editor Tony Freeman and journalist Michael Brooke, with Jayaben Desai coming face-to-face with her bosses in the Marylebone studio.
The primary issues were alleged racism, sexism, low wages and compulsory overtime, as well as trade union recognition.
Grunwick was a mail-order company developing people’s holiday snaps — so its bosses were furious that summer when the Post Office Workers’ union boycotted their mail.
Margaret Thatcher was leader of the Conservative opposition in Parliament at the time, and called Grunwick boss George Ward “a champion of freedom”.
The strike divided the nation. An inquiry by the Labour government under James Callaghan recommended Grunwick recognise the trade union and give the workers their jobs back.
But Grunwick would not back down and won an appeal to the House of Lords. The strike was eventually called off in July, 1978, after 670 days — without achieving union recognition or reinstatement.
The show by Townsend Theatre is written and performed by Neil Gore, featuring musical styles from the era.
Neil said: “We focus on the lives of inspirational individuals from our social and political history that are often forgotten or overlooked, fighting for rights in the workplace and the vulnerability of immigrant workers.
“Jayaben Desai is one such figure. Her resolve in the Grunwick strike should be remembered. These themes are relevant today.”
Gore is joined on stage by Rukmini Sircar in the role of Jayaben Desai in this retelling of one of the most significant mobilisations in Labour movement history.
Rukmini sees the Grunwick strike as “a turning point” in the history of the immigrant women workforce.
“This was a call to action to demand justice,” she said. “It challenged the constant fear that Asian women were forced to live with.
“I stand on the shoulders of the women of Grunwick and am stepping into Jayaben Desai’s shoes.”
We Are The Lions, Mr Manager! captures the dramatic scenes shown on the news at the time, such as police ‘snatch’ squads and mass picket lines.
The first performance will be a rehearsed reading at Willesden Green library’s performance space on September 27, before going on tour, then returning to the library in Willesden High Road for a final performance on November 29. Tickets are available from ticketsource.co.uk.
