When 6,000 women occupied the main road to the headquarters of the plantation company it was organised by the women themselves, most of whom have no history of union agitation...They called themselves "Pempilai Orumai", or women's unity...At first the plantation company was defiant but, after nine days of protest and marathon negotiations overseen by the chief minister of the state, it gave in....It was a stunning victory: a group of semi-literate women had taken on the most powerful interests in the state and won. The women had represented the workforce at the talks and forced management to accept their demand to bring back the 20% bonus...The women have refused to be part of the union effort and launched their own independent demand for higher wages.