“She’s a legend now,” the woman whispered as Rita O’Grady walked past.
“She blew her whistle, shouted ‘all out’, and out we went. Without her, we’d never have got anywhere with the bosses who thought it was just fine to pay us far less than the men doing similar work.”
The new, young machinist nodded.
“We’ve all heard of her thanks to the papers and the pictures of her and the other women on the Dagenham picket line.”
“Including me!” the older woman whispered.
The overseer stood up from his desk and opened his door.
“Come on! I know you lot won your stroke but you do know we have to finish this lot today? Let’s get those machines buzzing!”
****
“What is it now, Mrs O’Grady?” the factory manager said, sighing as he sat around the conference table.
“It’s a violation of health and safety, that’s what it is,” Rita said.
“And what would that violation be, Mrs O’Grady?”
Rita pulled a thick file of paperwork from her bag.
“Serious problems with the guards on the new machines,” she replied. “Dozens of reports of injuries or near misses because of them. I know you’ll want to look at these urgently and take immediate action to ensure the safety of my members.”
The factory manager smiled. “Of course I will. It will be the first thing I look at tomorrow. It will, however, take me some time to gather the paperwork together and come back to you with the results of my investigation.”
Rita sighed. “I’m sure it will. You know, I hope that in the future, there’s a centralised way to store records, something everyone can access wherever they are and whenever they need it. A place where you can keep accident reports, service documents for machinery, training records, and notes of inspections,” Rita said.
“That’s the first thing you’ve said that we agree on, Mrs O’Grady. That sounds perfect for manufacturers like us,” the factory manager replied.
“What would you call it?”
Rita shrugged.
“I don’t know, something cheerful. Like that new fruit from the Caribbean my husband picked up in the market the other day. Mango. That’s a nice name for it.”
The factory manager said: “Perfect! Must try a mango…”
Rita went on: “You know, I also hope there’ll be an international standard for things like health and safety one day, too, with much stricter rules for you to follow…”
The factory manager laughed.
“Ah, I thought all this agreeing with each other was too good to be true!”
Rita smiled.
“We’re always prepared to go into battle for what is right…After all it is 1968.”
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