Jayaben Desai: The striker in a sari
Measuring a petite 4ft 10, Jayaben Desai wouldn't necessarily strike you as a woman capable of taking on the powers that be.
Born in Gujurat, India, Jayaben emigrated to England in the early 1970s and took up employment at Grunwick Factory: a name synonymous with one of the most disruptive strikes of the decade.
Responsible for leading a strike that went on to have significant influence on how immigrant workers were treated in Britain, Jayaben walked out of the factory in north-west London on January 20 1976.
Protesting against the poor working conditions (which one worker described as "we used to work in fear"), 100 of Jayaben's colleagues followed closely behind her.
Initially unperturbed by the threat of strike action, Jayaben's managers described her and her colleagues as "chattering monkeys."
Her response?
"What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo," she implored. "But in a zoo there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance on your fingertips, others are lions who can bite your head off. We are the lions, Mr Manager."
Her fearlessness worked wonders.
By June 1997, there were daily marches in support of the Grunwick workers - on some days as many as 20,000 people joined the picket line outside Dorris Hill tube station.
Standing defiant until the end, Jayaben told her fellow strikers during one of their final meetings: "We have shown that workers like us, new to these shores, will never accept being treated without dignity or respect."
She died in 2010 aged 77. Not long before, aged 60, she passed her driving test, telling friends, finally, she felt "a free bird."
