Ray Physick, in answer to a question, talks about the role of women in the transport strike
Resource Type: Audio | Posted on 22nd July 2011 by Liam Physick
In answer to a question from a woman in the audience, Ray Physick affirms that most of strikers were men, but that their wives went on the marches. He also mentions how the strike transcended sectarian divisions
Interviewee: Ray Physick
Interviewee Gender: Male
Interview Transcript
Woman: You, Ray, you mentioned the presence of women on the rallies, and I was wondering, do we know if any women worked, maybe not on the trains, but in the stations, (inaudible) or if, if the were they wives of workers, or do we have any evidence of any women involvement in the strike.
Ray: To my knowledge the strikers were overwhelmingly men, the transport workers were more dominated . . . The women took part in, in, in the marches, particularly on Bloody Sunday, as that letter says, you know, men, women and children. The day was a, was a carnival atmosphere, I would imagine, to go and listen to . . . who was regarded as . . . Tom Mann, who was regarded as a great, great speaker, and not just Mann, there was Kenny, the dock, dock leader, and Jimmy Sexton spoke as well, he was a bit like Jimmy Thomas, Sexton, quite right wing, wanted to sell the strike out, so mainly women would be on the (inaudible). Just as an aside, one thing that I did, that I meant to mention and didn’t, was what, what happened in the Liverpool, is that the sectarian, Liverpool was a badly sectarian city then, and when I was a kid growing up, but the sectarianism in the city almost disappeared during the 72 days of the strikes that took place, you know, in Liverpool, and so it does show people do come together when they have a common, common struggle, really.
Categorised under: Work & Industry
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