People's History of Australia
Episode 1 – The Brunswick Kortex sweatshop strike, 1981
In this episode, we cover the brilliant story of 300 migrant women who went on strike against brutal sweatshop conditions in their textile factory in Brunswick, Melbourne, in 1981. None of the women had ever been on strike before, and few spoke English fluently. And yet over the next eight days, they defied violence and intimidation from their employer, the police, private security guards and the right-wing officials of their own union to win their strike and gain large pay increases and respect at work.