In 1981, a group of textile workers fought to save their Greenock workplace from closure - ultimately saving their jobs.
The workers, majority of whom were female, were also mainly mothers - a group of people who it seems fitting to honour not only during Women’s History Month, but as we also celebrate Mother’s Day.
The workers barricaded themselves inside the Lee Jeans factory where they worked for seven months, in a bid to hold off closure and protect their livelihoods. In January of 1981, the American company announced plans to close the Greenock factory.
The VF Corporation had opened the factory in 1970, with the aid of government grants, on the condition that it remained for a set period of time. With that time up, they intended to move over to Northern Ireland where similar government grants were being offered.
A vote was taken almost immediately to strike, and occupy the plant. They built a barricade of sewing machines round the offices, in order to keep managers from entering the factory.
The Daily Mirror told readers that more than half of the women working at Lee Jeans took home the only wage in the family. Shop steward convenor Helen Monaghan told the Mirror: “We’re prepared to work even one day a week rather than see the factory close.”
This determination never waivered, with one of the protestors famed for ensuring the group didn’t go hungry. Climbing onto the roof and down a drain pipe, Margaret Wallace collected 240 fish suppers and Irn-Bru.
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Support rolled in from across the country, with many city Trade Council’s taking steps to boycott the brand. In Aberdeen, Miss Chris Alred of the town Trades Council committee told the Press and Journal: “These people are doing something positive against unemployment in this country.”
Scottish wholesalers agreed to mass purchases of the jeans if they can set up a co-operative. Mr Nahar Rakhra, managing director of Clyde Knitwear, offered to buy 2000 a month.
He commented: “At the moment we can’t get enough jeans for our wholesale cash and carry business. If the workers in Greenock can produce what we want, then we are offering a contract for a year.”
The Belfast Telegraph told readers on May 26: “The Greenock workers, mainly women, are refusing to accept redundancy and they have challenged the company’s statement that a serious fall in exports was the reason for the plant’s closure.”
By August, celebrations were in order. VF Corporation had agreed to sell the factory for £600,000, and the deal was promised Government backing.
Helen Monaghan said of the win: “What kept us going was the thought that there was nothing else for us to do, and nowhere to go if the factory closed.”
The monumental and powerful Lee Jeans sit-in is remembered to this day, though sadly the win was short-lived as a business. The new owners folded in June 1983, and there was no sit-in that could save the factory.
