Working women in struggle
Helen O’ Connor is a trade union activist and writer @HelenOConnorNHS
Here she writes about the importance of trade unions to women throughout history up to the present day, and why Women should join trade unions and become active in them.
‘‘We are the lions, Mr Manager’ the iconic cry from Jayaben Desai, leader of the Grunwick factory strike in 1976, sums up the immense capacity and power of women in struggle. Throughout history women have joined together to fight for their rights in the workplace and in wider society.
The Grunwick workforce was comprised of low-paid Asian women who went from working in a climate of fear, even asking permission to use the bathroom, to walking out en masse and picketing their factory for several months. The Grunwick strike was eventually supported by the entire labour and trade union movement and it ultimately led to improvements in pay and conditions for the workers who joined the factory workforce later. Furthermore, this all-woman strike was a defining moment in British trade union history.
The right to strike, to withdraw their labour, is the only truly effective weapon working people have in their unequal struggle against employers, to enable them to win better conditions and secure justice. When working people strike not only do they improve their own working lives, which gives confidence to all workers, their action can also rock the political status quo and lead to positive social change. Women trade unionists, some of whom are hidden from history, have taken big risks and played leading roles in both organising workers and leading the most militant action. Much can be learnt from the inspiring working women of the past and present but too many have failed to receive the same level of recognition as their male counterparts.
In 1834 and 1836, women workers in the Lowell Mill factory in Massachusetts struck over pay and working conditions. The Lowell Mill employed large numbers of young women aged 15-35 and their accommodation was tied to the job. Conditions in the Mills were gruelling, and employees worked long hours, from 5:00 am until 7:00 pm, for an average 73 hours per week. The noise of the machines was deafening, the rooms were hot, and the air was contaminated with particles of thread and cloth. The mill buildings had minimal safety regulations, which threatened the health and wellbeing of every employee.
In 1834 the factory owners announced they would impose a 15% wage reduction and the women walked out and withdrew their savings from the banks. Even though this first strike failed, the genie was out of the bottle and it led to a determination amongst the Lowell Mill women to organise, despite the factory owners telling them their militant labour activity was ‘unfeminine’.
In 1836 in response to a rent increase by the bosses, fifteen hundred women workers participated in a walk out, and this time they were supported by the local community too. Eleven-year-old Harriet Robinson, employed as a doffer in the factory, later wrote about how a young woman, much to the surprise of everyone present, stood up on a pump and gave a rousing speech to incite her fellow workers into action. This unnamed young woman went against all of the mores and traditions laid down for women of the time, but her actions led to a huge second strike, which lasted for weeks. The strike had a significant impact on reducing production and the company bosses were forced to rescind the rent hike.
Rosie Hackett, born into poverty in Dublin in 1883, was a truly inspirational strike leader and revolutionary. In spite of the leading roles she played in the labour struggle during the Dublin lockout and the Easter rising of 1916, she is not a widely known figure of history. With the odds stacked against her, 18-year-old Rosie risked being sacked from the Jacob’s factory, where she worked as a messenger, in order to organise three thousand women workers into the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU). The women worked in brutal and oppressive conditions for pitiful wages, but they stood up to bullying bosses and walked out in sympathy strikes with their male colleagues. The strike was victorious and led to an increase in pay and improvements in conditions in the Jacob’s factory which was one of the big Dublin employers at the time. Such was her belief in doing the right thing, Rosie persisted in her union work, and she was sacked from her job. Later she was jailed for 10 days for her activities during the 1916 Easter rising. Far from being deterred by her incarceration Rosie carried on being highly active in the labour and trade union movement up to her death in 1976. She and other women barricaded themselves into Liberty Hall in order to hang a banner commemorating the anniversary of Irish Revolutionary hero James Connolly. She later reported that ‘police were mobilised from everywhere’ and that it took ‘four hundred police to take down four women’. Rosie always stood alongside women workers, and recognising the need for women to be able to join trade unions, she was one of the founding members of the Irish Women Workers Union (IWWU) which at its height had seventy thousand members across Ireland.
Beginning on 9 January 1973 and continuing for many weeks afterwards, tens of thousands of Black workers went on strike across Durban in South Africa. Thousands of women textile workers were actively involved in these strikes which were led by trade unionist June Rose Nala. June was employed as a weaver in one of the factories. In March 1976 she was charged with instigating the strike at the Natal Cotton and Woollen Mills, and she was arrested and detained. June was eventually released after charges against her were dropped. Such was the widespread confidence in her leadership ability, she was duly elected general secretary of the Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU). The Durban strikes of 1973 represented a significant step forward in the struggle against apartheid but little has been recorded about the leading role June Rose Nala played during this period.
Irish women trade unionists working for Dunnes Stores in Ireland stood in solidarity with Black South Africans, and this helped to further advance the struggle against apartheid. In 1984 following a directive from her trade union, 21-year-old Mary Manning refused to handle produce from South Africa, which led to her being suspended from work. Mary was followed out the door by nine of her colleagues, eight women and one man. Initially the strike was not widely supported, and the strikers received abuse and criticism from their colleagues and others. However, their courage in standing firm inspired people across the globe and the strikers were even visited on the picket line by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. After a fierce battle that included many setbacks, the Irish government eventually passed laws banning the importation and sale of South African goods to Ireland.
In 1968 the striking machinists of the Dagenham car factory brought the injustice of lower pay for women workers right into the heart of British politics. The machine workers received less pay than their male counterparts doing similar work, following a grading restructure. However, the women still had to put pressure on their male union convenor to take up the issue.
Their persistence paid off and their strike received significant publicity and garnered public sympathy amongst many who recognised that times were changing, and women were becoming sole breadwinners for their families. The Dagenham strikers not only managed to secure pay justice but their struggle caught the attention of government ministers, Barbara Castle in particular, and this paved the way for the introduction of the Equal Pay Act of 1970.
There are so many further examples of working women changing the course of world history, including the women who sparked the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Matchgirls strike of 1888. Right up to this day, courageous women continue to lead industrial struggles across the globe. From the garment workers organising in Bangladesh through to the women workers in this country who have run picket lines and led inspirational marches, it is the lowest paid and the most oppressed who will often be the best union organisers and the fiercest fighters.
These women develop confidence and grow in stature through struggle, and many go on to forge deep loyalty and the most serious level of commitment to their trade unions.
The sheer courage and tenacity of the migrant women ISS workers in South London and Maudsley NHS secured a whopping 17% pay rise and additional bonus payments earlier in 2023, a struggle which would inspire anyone. For the public sector unions who have been involved in national strike action it will have been the women reps on the shop floor who were instrumental in encouraging their colleagues to turn out in large numbers on the picket lines. So many of these women will be quietly but effectively working behind the scenes and won’t be the ones on the social media platforms or speaking in the media.
Let’s never forget that the right to strike has won gains that benefit everyone, including the eight-hour working day, annual leave, maternity leave, and health and safety at work. These benefits are now being rolled back for too many of the lowest paid workers in this country.
The right to strike is more necessary than ever before as jobs’ wages, terms and conditions deteriorate, and this is leading to millions of children growing up in poverty, without a bed to sleep in or a regular hot meal. It is always women and children who are hardest hit when economies are unstable and public services are cut back. The consequences of millions of young people having nothing, and therefore nothing to lose, will have the most serious of consequences for the whole of society in decades to come.
Despite trade union activity being a progressive force for good in society, clearly borne out by history, Britain has the most repressive anti trade union legislation in the developed world and the minimum service levels bill will further hamstring the ability of unions to operate effectively.
Public services like the NHS will be subjected to further cutbacks in the coming period and the women who work in and are reliant on these services will be hardest hit. When workers in public services go on strike and win improvements in pay and conditions this not only protects themselves, but it also protects the quality of that service for the public as well. Experienced staff and staffing levels, health and safety and a whole other raft of protections are retained and improved upon when workers successfully engage in strike action and stand up for themselves.
One of the most concerning aspects of the Minimum Service Levels (MSL) Bill allows for employers to issue ‘work notices’ requiring specific employees to attend work during strike days and the expectation is that unions will co-operate with these directives or receive eye watering fines. The MSL Bill is a blatant attempt to undermine the trust and confidence of workers in their trade unions and reduce the overall will to strike and the effectiveness of strike action.
At the TUC emergency congress (held on Saturday 9th December 2023) the major trade unions reaffirmed their commitment to protect the right to strike, because it is vital that the unions continue to operate effectively to protect the interests of everyone in society. What many trade unionists remember is that a raft of anti-union legislation was introduced back in 2016, but in spite of this we have seen and participated in the biggest strike wave since the 1980’s.
Trade unions, the largest democratic organisations of working people and in the formation of which women played a major role, are just as relevant and necessary as they were in the 1800s. Trade unions, most vital of all to the health and wellbeing of women, have proved time and time again to be the most effective organisations in pulling society upwards and away from barbarism. So women everywhere should emulate our sisters from history, join trade unions and be active in them because we have the most to lose from cutbacks and the most to gain from being organised and active in our trade unions.