iieiiei1eWrkers - Leicester Research Archive - University of Leicester

The division of labour, between male/day-worker and female/shift-worker, was
apparent during the entire period of the industrial dispute including the '54-day
strike'. Although the women workers made up half the representatives in the
negotiating team, they relied on the niale leaders for decisions. Whilst the
former provided the 'brains' the latter 'organised and reassured'. There was
also a sizeable discursive gap between the women representatives and the
employer. However, this was overcome by emotional outburst, as . one
respondent described;
were at the negotiating table day in and day out. . I don 't
understand half of what 1/icy say any way. . our friends are outside
giving us support but / am still afraid. . one day after a very long talk
I begin to feel the employer is tricking us. . they want to drag ii on
and on. .1 got very angry and all of a sudden, I burst out in my
dialect..! told them exactly what I think. . they were completely
shocked.. you see, I didn 't know how / did it... my friends said I was
brave., but i/icy thought it was funny to speak Laos at a
negotiation.. (lien, we broke up for the day..
This use of the vernacular in contesting the legal mode of address was
however, delegitiniised since the terms of reference for the negotiations were
fornied by the Labour Law of 1975. More importantly, the negotiation was
presided over by the arbiter from the local labour office whose suggestion for a
settlement openly reinforced the employer's position. In addition, there was no
legal advisor on the workers' negotiation team whilst the employer was equipped
with the company's lawyer and a battery of economic and production statistics.
The '54-day strike' that followed was strenuous for the women organisers and
strikers. They attempted different means of fund-raising to top-up the donations
from their comrades in the textile and other industries. Among others, the
workers sought financial assistance from Luktoong singers. They were certain
that their idols would not turn them down, and were disappointed when a
couple of them decline to contribute. Funding was a serious problem as the
strike wore on. Nearing the end, the number of workers at the site was
reduced to around 200, and the others were told to rely on their families until
further notice.
The male leaders educated themselves by reading and learning from their
unionist friends, and most of all, from their own experience in the negotiation
process. After the struggle had been won the gender divisions were re-affirmed
in the Structure of the executive committee and the working of the union for
example, with male members taking decision-making positions whilst women act
as back-up. In 1985, although a senior woman worker was elected president
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