How We Fought Our Way into the Strike

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Socialist Press interviews Sheffield steel pickets Enid Beever, Sylvia Taylor and Ann Dawson on the role of women on the picket lines in the steel looked forward to us coming. him a line.

It's changed their whole attitude • We did, but never Socialist Press: When Sncialist Press: When did you start picketing?

EB: Well we put our name down from day one-but let's put it this way, we've only been on the picket ten weeks.

Socialist Press: Why is that? EB At the beginning of the strike the office didn't want women involved.

Socialist Press: How did you get involved?

EB: Well first thing they said was that we could make sandwiches.

AD: Yes, that's all they thought we were good for!

EB: I just kept going down and saying you've got to get the women organised. I just kept asking what I could do. They just replied 'no women on the picket line.

Then they gave me a job to do-to contact all the men on the picket lists who weren't on the telephone when they were needed for duty.

This was only after we had a meeting with some officials present who said under pressure if we could get organised we could have a small corner in the picket office to help them out.

Then I got the picket lists for my job and I found out the number of women who had put their names down for duty and were never called-so 1 called them all and we all went out to help out on the picket line at Hayden Nylos. There was a great response to that.

AD: It was Sheerness that really turned them.

EB: Oh yes, Sheerness. It was arranged that a group of women would go down the day after the mass picket to confront the 'back to work' women who were abusing our pickets.

But with persuading they changed their minds and we were allowed to go on the mass picket and that was the changing point.

They saw us stand our ground with the men as they kicked us up and down-and make no mistake those SPG can kick!

But we took it as good as the rest of them and after that the men accepted us, gave us picket duty the same as anyone else and now they've got me on the strike commitțee itself.

Socialist Press: What's response to you now on picket?

ST: Terrific-they've really strike.

to us as women, they take us on more. the level we are.

There's no chance of any of the fellas on the picket saying give up your job you're just a woman. They wouldn't want to and wouldn't dare.

Mind you, there's still those 50% stuck at home instead of on the picket line, there's no accounting for them. They might still say it but if they try we'll turn around and say • "we were on the picket line-where were you?"

EB: We had great discussions on the picket, matters that they never knew women thought about on politics.

Little things show they respect you as a woman but class you as one of them, like swearing: they've given vethere's avoiding it because there's "ladies" present.

Socialist Press: Up to the strike what did you think of the leadership of the union? EB: They never did nowt! ST: They put up no fight at all in our valley to defend jobsfour departments of between 4-500 jobs were closed-stainless, umbrellas, light springs and bar and rod. women's jobs. That many jobs in just one valley went with no fight at all-just sold down the river.

Now we're out fighting we're demanding to know why they never. lifted a finger. The answers are pitiful.

They declare they just didn't know it was closing, and then they say. "well anyway the members Were willing to take redundancy."

Well we were but not till we'd done what little we thought we could.

We'd met Moss Evans at a function and told him about the closures: he told us not to worry about our jobs, just drop Same with Benn.

Socialist Press: Have the leadership sold you out in other ways? EB: Oh yes, they must have to have settled for the wages we've been getting all these years. They'd have settled for the 2% if they'd had their way.

ST: Another instance-we started a fight with the management on an equal pay issuewomen only on half men's bogus for the same job.

• We never won it of coursethe company just turned around and said "You're too late: the union already signed for the bonus rates"!

The worst was the jobs. They said they wouldn't enforce redundancy but you know how it is.

Most got fed up, they were given no lead on how to fight and had had enough of working with broken down machinery and low pay.

Some were offered redeployment. I was. I wanted to fight the closures and I went up to He said "Why don't you give up your job-you don't need it, you're a woman!"

You'd get a lot of that too from the men you worked with. There's very few women in the union!

EB: That's hardly surprising. There's one local ISTC secretary in BSC who firmly holds the view women shouldn't work anyway.

There's no lead given by the officers to get women along to meetings-they won't stop you joining-they'll take your money all right; but they'll do nothing for you.

Socialist Press: Do you see this strike as just on wages?

AD: No definitely not, our point of view.

We see it as a fight on jobsa fight for the future of our country-not for today, but for tomorrow.

Sheffield is steel. It you don't have steel you don't have Like South Wales, it links into evertying-into BL and the motor industry. Close steel and you close the pits. Just look what will happen if they shut Corby and Bilston-whole towns will go.

It links in with the whole question of cuts. Why educate the kids to stand on the dole queue? So they cut the schools and we end up with a scrapheap society.

Socialist Press: What about the leadership through the strike? ST: Make no mistake it's the rank and file not the leadership fighting this strike.

The strike has only gone on so long because they daren't sell us down the river. But, eventually they'll try to do it. Socialist Press: What do you think of Bill Sirs?

AD: We went to Swindon House to lobby-we stayed at the bottom of the stairs shouting 20%-no strings.

Sirs came down with his fingers in his cars, saying we were giving him a headache-ay and it's not the last headache he'll have!

ST: What gets me, how can a union leader also be a JP?

What happens when a picket comes up against him for breaking the law on the line? Socialist Press: And : Moss Evans?

ST: Ah well he thought he could play the big militant last year with the lorry drivers dispute and Fords-you know new broom sweeps clean.

But to us now he doesn't stand more than six inches high.

Him and Sirs could have won this strike in the first week if they'd brought out the private sector and had a working TGWU directive stopping all lorries.

They're not supposed to have issued any local dispensations and look what's happening. What do you do? We've been stuck out now 13½ weeks to get Thatcher and we've had to go the whole thing alone.

Socialist Press: What do you think of the strike call at BL? ST: A bit bloody late!

AD: It would have been better it they'd come out week one with us. The way we look upon it they'll try ánd make bloody sure we're back by the time they come out.

But we've had to go it alone. Can't they see if the Tories break us they've broken everyone's back?

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my official and sad: "I'm fight- ing for jobs for school kids".