13 June 1992: Burnsall strike

13 June 1992: Burnsall strike

From On This Day in Working Class History by Working Class History

June 13, 2026 · 1 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the Burnsall strike of 1992, where South Asian women workers demanded union recognition and equal pay.

On this day, 13 June 1992, around 20 mostly South Asian women workers at a metal finishing plant in Burnsall, Smethwick, walked out on strike. They were demanding union recognition, equal pay and basic health and safety. The employer retaliated by sacking all of them. There were several disagreements between the union, GMB, and the strikers about the form and nature of the strike action, with the strikers increasingly resisting the union’s attempts to take control of the strike action. Though the women had had strong community support, the strike was eventually called off after a year by union officials, who decided it was unwinnable. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8492/burnsall-strike Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon . If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory . See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories app: stories.workingclasshistory.com/date/today Browse all Stories by Date here on the Date index…

People in this episode

Host: Working Class History

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Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: GMB

Places: Burnsall, Smethwick

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