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G4EBT > HISTRY 03.12.04 19:49l 183 Lines 7594 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 123602G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Working condx 1800s/1900s
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<DB0RES<ON0AR<GB7FCR
Sent: 041203/1747Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:24655 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:123602G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : HISTRY@WW
For those interested in socio-economic history, some fascinating info
(30,000 new entries) on conditions endured by working people in the UK
in the 1800s/1900s has been added to the UK National Archives Website at:
http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/mayday.asp
The heading is "Labouring Men, Labouring Women"
From the (free) website:
Quote:
Subjects covered (dating between 1892 and 1933) include: Working hours,
industrial disputes, train strikes, equal rights for women workers,
employment during and after World War I, juvenile labour and safety
at work.
Examples of the content of the records are:
Lloyd George's agreement with the National Union of Railwaymen and ASLE&F
to end the National Railway Strike,1919
Letter from the Trades Union Congress expressing disappointment at
the Government's attitude towards the 40-hour week proposed by the
International Labour Organisation Convention, 1934
Photo of ex-servicemen training in angle plate work, as part of a
re-settlement scheme after WWI, 1919.
A pamphlet to recruit women to pick fruit for jam for the fighting forces,
1918.
A poster advertising free "second class warm baths" for the unemployed at
Saint Pancras, London, 1932. ("Second class"? Used, but still hot water?).
A letter and pamphlet from the Women's Freedom League concerning the
injustice done to women workers if the Restoration of the Trade Union
Right Bill were to come into practice after the war.
A letter from the 100 women weavers on strike at Cumledge Mills and
previous letter from the employer re alteration in working conditions
leading to a drop in weekly wages from œ1 to 15 shillings.
Well worth a surf!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apart from the website above, students of social history will be familiar
with several landmark successes of unskilled labour fighting for justice
in the face of oppression. Some of the more notable ones which had
repercussions across the whole spectrum of labour, were:
The "Match Girls Strike"
The "Dockers Tanner"
The "Gasworkers' 8-hour Day"
Match Girls:
In June 1888, Clementina Black gave a speech on Female Labour at a Fabian
Society meeting in London. Annie Besant - a member of the audience, was
horrified when she heard about pay and conditions of the women working
at the Bryant & May match factory.
The next day, Besant went and interviewed some of the workers at B&M. She
discovered that the women worked fourteen hours a day for a wage of less
than five shillings a week. However, they didn't always receive their full
wage because of a system of fines, ranging from three pence to a shilling,
imposed by B&M management.
Offences included talking, dropping matches or going to the toilet without
permission. The women worked from 6.30 am in summer (8.00 in winter) to
6.00 pm. If they were late they were fined a half-day's pay.
Annie Besant also discovered that the health of the women had been
severely affected by the phosphorous they used to make the matches. This
caused yellowing of the skin and hair loss and "phossy jaw", a form of
bone cancer.
Although phosphorous was banned in Sweden and the USA, the British
government had refused to follow their example, arguing it would
be a restraint of free trade.
On 23rd June 1888, Annie Besant wrote an article in her newspaper, "The
Link". The article, entitled "White Slavery in London", complained about
the way the women at B&M were being treated.
B&M reacted by attempting to force their workers to sign a statement that
they were happy with their working conditions. When a group of women
refused to sign, the organisers of the group was sacked. The response
was immediate: 1400 women at Bryant & May went on strike.
William Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, Henry Hyde Champion of the
Labour Elector and Catharine Booth of the Salvation Army, joined Besant in
her campaign for better working conditions in the factory.
So too did Sydney Oliver, Stewart Headlam, Hubert Bland, Graham Wallas and
George Bernard Shaw. However, other newspapers such as The Times, blamed
Besant and other socialist agitators for the dispute.
After 3 weeks the company said it was willing to re-employ the dismissed
women and would bring an end to the fines system. The women accepted the
terms and returned in triumph. The B&M dispute was the first strike by
unorganised workers to gain national publicity. It also helped inspire
the formation of unions all over the country.
Annie Besant, William Stead, Catharine Booth, William Booth and Henry Hyde
Champion continued to campaign against the use of yellow phosphorous. In
1891 the Salvation Army opened its own match-factory in Old Ford, East
London.
Only using harmless red phosphorus, the workers produced six million boxes
a year. Whereas B&M paid their workers just over twopence a gross, the
Salvation Army paid their employees twice this amount.
William Booth organised conducted tours of MPs and journalists round this
"model" factory. He also took them to the homes of those "sweated workers"
who were working eleven and twelve hours a day producing matches for
companies like Bryant & May.
The bad publicity the company received forced it to reconsider its policy
and in 1901, Gilbert Bartholomew, M.D. of B&M, announced it had stopped
used yellow phosphorus.
Gasworkers' 8-hr Day:
In March 1889 a meeting was held by the Gas Light and Coke Company's
stokers in London to form a union to fight to reduce the 12 and 18-hr
shifts they'd been working, to eight hours.
They were led by Will Thorne, a socialist. Marx's daughter Eleanor became
a member of the executive of the union, inspiring workers up and down the
country to join and fight.
Within two weeks 3,000 had joined. At mass meetings, without secret
ballots or prior notice to their bosses, workers decided to withdraw their
labour until they got what they wanted. The G.L.& C Co gave way without a
fight.
The "Dockers' Tanner":
Within months of the Gas Workers' success, the dockers of East London -
long used to living and working in conditions of abject poverty and
insecure work, struck and built unions around their demands for a decent
wage - the "dockers' tanner" (sixpence an hour).
The strike soon gripped the whole of the Thames side, involving 30,000
dockers and 30,000 other workers. Barriers between different sections,
particularly between organised and unorganised, were quickly broken down -
the stevedores and lightermen, who had strong unions also joined the
strike. Over 50 miles of docks were picketed by 16,000 strikers, despite
legal uncertainties of such actions.
By 1896, due to several court judgements against them, unions had become
liable to damages from bosses. By 1897 legal picketing had become almost
impossible. These developments were not properly reversed until the next
great outbreak of workers' struggle between 1910 and 1914, the period of
"The Labour Unrest".
Quotes of the day:
William Blake
"Oppression"
~~~~~~~~~~
Nature in darkness groans And men are bound to sullen contemplation in the
night: Restless they turn on beds of sorrow in their inmost brain. Feeling
the crushing wheels they rise, they write the bitter words of stern
philosophy & knead the bread of knowledge with tears & groans.
73 - David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
QTH: Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 17:46 on 2004-Dec-03
Message sent using WinPack-Telnet V6.70
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