Ten Young Women And One Young Man
A song by Ewan MacColl©Ewan
MacColl
Pause a while my friends and listen to what I'm going to tell
to you
About the events in Dublin City and the girls of the IDATU
Dunne's
stores branch in Henry street was where the trouble first began
That led to
the strike, the famous strike
Of ten young women and one young man
At the union conference that year they said we should not compromise
With
apartheid, and they voted to boycott all South African merchandise
Karen Guerin,
and the Dunne's shop steward, told their mates about the ban
They said "We'll
stick by the resolution"
Ten young women and one young man
Mary Manning,
from Kilmainham, a twenty one year old cashier
Was put to the test the very
next morning and she spoke up loud and clear
"No, I'm afraid, I cannot serve
you. That grapefruit's South African
Some of us here are opposed to apartheid"
Ten young women and one young man
Well what a hell of a hullaballoo,
the groans and threats and angry cries
The management foaming at the mouth
and the suits running round like blue-arsed flies
"You'll sell that fruit
or be suspended, we'll tolerate no union ban"
Little did they understand the
will
Of ten young women and one young man
Mary Manning got the push,
a lass of independent mind
And ten of her workmates came out and her and joined
her there on the picket line
For days and weeks and months they stood there
held their nerve and kept the ban
Showing the will and determination
Of
ten young women and one young man
So here's to the girls of Dublin City
who stretched their hands across the sea
That action surely is a lesson in
workers' solidarity
Here's to the folk who heed the boycott, won't buy Cape
and spurn Outspan
And to the lad who joined the lasses
Ten young women
and one young man
Notes
This song describes the Dunnes Store strike
in Dublin in the 1980's with young workers putting their jobs on the line in support
of the union boycott of South African products, part of the world wide struggle
to end apartheid.
The song is on the 1998 CD "Songs of Irish Labour"
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