Red (2014)

For the Mercedes Benz plant in East London, 1990 was a year that will be remembered for two defining events: the building of a red Mercedes Benz for the Nelson Mandela and a wildcat sleep-in strike that shut the plant down for nine weeks. In the mid eighties, the factory faced a crisis. Under conservative management, the unions had reacted accordingly and become extremely militant. Production was at a particularly low ebb as work stoppages, strikes and go-slows became the norm. A change in leadership however resulted in a groundbreaking recognition agreement with the unions and the workers were to build a Mercedes Benz 500SE for Nelson Mandela. But after years of industrial action, change was not easy and a destructive, wildcat sleep-in strike ensued.