Rosa was hugging Grandma when Marie said, "Grandma, are there any special women that share my name?" Grandma answered, "Well, I can think of two right off the top of my head. The first being Marie Louise, who was a trade unionist and a friend of mine."

As I watch my great-grandchildren get ready for school I think how different life was when I was their age 85 years ago. There have been many changes. I believe the work I did as a Trade Unionist helped to make life better for them. Hello, my name is Marie Louise and I was born in Bristol, England in 1906. When I was fourteen years old I had to go to work to help my family pay their bills. I was very lucky to get a job making beer at the local brewery. There were not a lot of jobs back then so many people could not find work. We worked long, hard hours, most days ten to twelve hours with very little time to rest. Workers were very tired and sometimes got hurt. My friends and I decided to join a trade union.

Trade unions are groups of people who are worried about the workers. They share their ideas with the bosses on how to make working conditions better for everyone. As Trade Unionists, we asked for a shorter work day so that the workers could see their families and get some rest. People were very frightened of losing their jobs. We asked the factory owners and bosses for a promise to protect the hard worker's jobs. In 1926 there was a general strike in England. A strike means that people refuse to go to work until the bosses agree to improve unsafe or unfair working conditions. This strike took place to help the coal miners whose jobs were very hard and dangerous. Many changes were made to make the workplace better. Unfortunately, the Trade Unionists could not convince the bosses to change a very unfair rule. This rule said that when a woman got married, she had to give her job to someone else. So in 1935, when I married, I left the brewery and the many trade union friends I had there.