On this day, 27 November 1981, 300 mostly migrant women workers at the Kortex textile factory in Brunswick, Australia walked out on strike when they were furious that Textile Workers’ Union officials failed to show up for a Friday meeting about their pay claim. They then made plans to picket the plant on Monday. As Monday morning came around, the women had assembled a mass picket at the plant, and marched to another nearby Kortex factory, where most workers joined them on strike. Together, speaking a mixture of Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Italian, Croatian and English, they drew up a list of demands. They wanted a pay rise, the abolition of the bonus scheme, for more tea breaks, a canteen, the right to visit the toilet freely and an end to compulsory donations for birthday gifts for the bosses. When union officials failed to call out scabs who kept working on strike, the women toughened up their picket lines, and defended themselves from police batons and hired thugs using their shoes. After 10 days, despite increasing pressure from bosses and the union to end the strike, the workers had continued to hold firm and won a significant pay rise. They returned to work and continue to build on the new sense of solidarity and power they had developed. This is a more detailed history of the strike: https://libcom.org/history/articles/kortex-strike-1981 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2145572562294549/?type=3
