Reaction Paper: Made in Dagenham Film Essay

In the film that we’ve watched entitled Made in Dagenham, we have seen how powerful strikes can be. It is done so that the rights of the workers will be upheld, and that, only upon compliance of the Legal Requirements may it be declared a valid strike. Many are the reasons why workers would engage in such an activity, one of which was the discrimination of gender which the film presented. We have also seen in the film how it would take one brave union leader to lead a strike in upholding the rights of the workers and that engaging in a strike would require sacrifice in the part of the striking employees since they are not entitled to payment of wages for unworked days during the period of the strike. We have seen the struggles they had between their families during those days. Also, the film showed an application of the valid ground for strike or lockout, that is, strike should be a means of last resort after they have exerted all efforts to resolve the unfair labor practices. It was seen in the film when the two women representatives had a meeting with the mediation board in resolving the discrimination of gender by paying the female workers lower wages than the male workers. What is most amazing was that the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike led to the establishment of the Equal Pay Act in 1970, which banned the discrimination on pay and working conditions between men and women.