W.C. Boggs & Son fine toiletware factory. Shop steward Vic Spanner halts work on the production line when boss's son Lewis Boggs bans tea service on the shop floor - though his real reason for calling the workers out is that he has tickets for the football match that afternoon. Vic's colleagues are reluctant to stage another strike but he persuades them to take part by reminding them that the Rovers are playing at home.

Vic returns to his mother's boarding house, where the factory's designer Charles Coote also lodges. Agatha Spanner favours her lodger over her son, whom she chastises for calling another strike.

Factory foreman Sid Plummer returns home to his bored wife Beattie, who is unsuccessfully trying to coax conversation from their pet budgie. Later, Beattie challenges Sid about his gambling on the horses, saying that there is no skill involved. This squabble leads to the discovery of the budgie's talent for picking winners and an improvement in Sid's fortunes - until, after eleven wins in three weeks, the bookmaker calls a halt to his gambling.

A 'love triangle' develops between Sid's daughter Myrtle, Vic Spanner and Lewis Boggs. Both men vie for her affections, although Myrtle only uses Vic to inflame Lewis's jealousy. On the day of the first strike, Vic follows Myrtle and Lewis, first to the cinema and then to The Whippit Inn. Myrtle is offended by the film and by his sexual advances, and it doesn't help when he accidentally rips off her skirt as she is leaving the restaurant.

The firm secures a deal for 1,000 bidets, which could reverse its ailing fortunes. Sid lends W.C. Boggs £1,000 when the bank refuses the factory credit to complete the order. However, the bidet design includes a combined tap and waste control pipe which precipitates another strike, as neither tap fitters or waste pipe fitters are allowed to do each other's jobs.

The factory is crippled by the strike (the fourteenth in a year), and after two weeks of industrial action Boggs considers selling the business. As he dictates a letter agreeing a sale, the workers returning for their annual seaside outing distract him and he decides to join them.

In Brighton, Vic and Lewis continue to fight over Myrtle. However, Lewis gets the girl when she accepts his marriage proposal on the ghost train.

The next day Charles Coote tells Agatha that they will not be able to marry due to the imminent closure of the factory. She is incensed and blames her son.

In their hotel, the newlyweds Lewis and Myrtle prepare to consummate their marriage. However, their plans are thwarted when Lewis is called away to try to save the factory.

On the picket line, Vic is harangued by the other workers, who want the strike to end. A gang of disgruntled female workers and relatives, led by Agatha, arrives to break up the picket. Agatha bends Vic over her knee and spanks him, and the other workers return to the production line. Eventually, Vic is lured away from his one-man strike by the arrival of a sexy new canteen girl. W.C. is persuaded not to sell up and the factory is saved.

Sid learns of his daughter's marriage to the boss's son and of his own promotion to Director.

All is well until the men's toilets run out of paper. But instead of calling the workers out, Vic confounds expectations by saying, "Carry on working".