Jayaben Desai

Jayaben Desai (2 April 1933 – 23 December 2010) was an Indian-born trade unionist in the United Kingdom. She was noted as a prominent leader of the strikers in the Grunwick dispute in London in 1976.

Early life Born in Dharmaj, Gujarat, India, Desai moved to Tanzania, East Africa, in 1956. At the age of twenty two, she married Suryakant, a factory owner. The couple were from middle class mercantile backgrounds. They moved to Britain in 1967, before the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 made it harder for British passport holders from former British colonies to enter the country.

Grunwick Dispute In Britain, Desai had to take up low-paid work, first as a sewing machinist, then processing film in the Grunwick factory. The strikers protested about working conditions, pay inequality and institutionalised racism within the company. Women were even asked why they needed to go to the toilet, and Desai counselled her colleagues not to be intimidated by this.

Desai led the strikers in their two-year picket from 1976 to 1978. The strike was backed by the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX Union), who also produced a strike bulletin.

A portrait of Desai by David Mansell was purchased by the National Portrait Gallery, London in 2017. Also in 2017, a new play about Desai and the strikers, We Are The Lions Mr Manager by Neil Gore, was performed by Townsend Theatre Productions.

A comic strip about Desai was created by Dr Sundari Anitha (University of Lincoln) and Professor Ruth Pearson (University of Leeds).

In 2021, a British Indian Film-maker created a short documentary in tribute to Desai and the 1976 The Grunwick Strike. Documentary is on YouTube named Strikers in Saris released on 7 February 2021.