A SOUNDTRACK to the Lee Jeans factory sit-in will make up the playlist for an emotional reunion to mark 35 years since the legendary protest.

A group of local women locked themselves in the shop floor of the Greenock factory on February 5 in 1981 and their fight for their jobs lasted seven months.

In the end they won the hearts and souls of the public as well as grinding factory owners the American firm VF Corporation down.

The dispute had a lasting impact on many and become a pivotal moment in the trade union struggle - and for the 240 workers involved it changed the course of their lives. Now they are going to remember it with help from the music of that era.

One of the leaders, Margaret Wallace, who was originally from Branchton and only 19 at the time, said: “We are having the reunion so that we can all get together again.

“We have already lost some of the women and it is important we come together again. We will be playing tracks from the 1970s and 80s on the night. We used to put the record player on in the factory. During the sit-in we would listen to the likes of Supertramp’s The Logical Song – that sticks out for me.

“It is hard to believe it was 35 years ago now.”

After the occupation, which attracted huge national attention and drew top political figures and trade unionists to Greenock, Margaret’s life never really returned to normal.

The women took it in turns to staff the shop floor and also marched to Edinburgh to deliver a petition to the Scottish Office during the dispute.

Margaret said: “The sit-in made me the person I am. They bagged me eventually and I was only young but I found it really difficult to get work again. I became known as one of the instigators. In the end I went to live and work in Jersey. It changed everything for me. It was something I would never have done if it wasn’t for the sit-in. It shaped the rest of our lives’.”

Now Margaret, 56, is looking forward to catching up with old friends Helen Monaghan and Catherine Robertson.

All three of them helped organise the fightback – with Margaret even nipping out onto the roof and down a drain pipe to pick up fish suppers on the first night of the lockdown.

The women are hoping for a big turnout at next month’s get together.

She said: “This is an important reunion and I hope that as many people as possible can come along.”

The Lee Jeans sit-in reunion will be held in Greenock Police Club, Thom Street, on 5 February. Tickets cost £6 and they are available from Margaret on 078752961398.