3.7 Improving working and living conditions: trades union militancy in Ireland 1907-14 Flashcards
Working and living conditions for unskilled urban workers
- slum areas
= Dublin
= home for multiple families
= 1914 - collapse of slum building in church street, 7 dead - study, 1/2 Dublin population in pov
- malnurishment and poor sanitation
- mortality rates 1905
= Dublin, 22.3/1000
= Glasgow, 17/1000
= London, 6/1000 - absence of comprehensive unionisation for all workers
= long hours, minimum pay - Belfast population, 349,00 workers
- Dublin population
= start of c19th - 180,000
= 1900 - 290,000 - Dublin
= 2 main businesses (Guiness Brewery & Jacob’s biscuits) = port
= couldn’t improve facilities - work dangerous and unsanitary
- av. lwvwl for unskilled workers = 10 shillings and 9p a week
- usually dockers or carters
- 1914 - average weekly rent in Ireland was 4 shillings, 4lb loaf of bread = 6-
- Belfast Dockers - 75hrs a week
- basic standard income for family = 22 shillings and 5p per week
- Depression, 1908-09
= unemployment in Belfast’s shipyards = 20% - shortfall in income made up by wife and children (e.g. domestic servants or linen mills)
- 1901, legal age of children working raised to 12
= school leaving certificates were proof, many forfed
poor diet = undernourished
=1900-02 - 49.3 years males
- 49.6 years fmales
- high mortality ralte in infants (Dublin 169/1000 births)
Significance of the founding National Union of Cock Labourers 1907 and the Irish Transport and General Worker’s Union of 1909
- instability of the unskilled workers to take effective action to improve their positions
- living conditions = direct example of poor wages
- changing level of wages very difficult since casual unskilled workers didn’t enjoy the dame degree of protection as their skilled permanent collegues, who relied upon their expertise when it came to negotiations
- after 1907 - unskilled workers had the chance to help themselves with the organisation of Irish Dockers into the National Union of Dock Labourers
The Nation Union of Dock Labourers and the Belfast Strike
1907
- founded in Glasgow, 1889 - relocated to Liverpool
- vehicle for achieving better conditions for the less skilled workers on the docks who had had no representation
- Ja 1907 - union began to recruit in earnest in the ports of Ireland, Belfast
- driving force behind this recruitment process came from Jim Larkin
= originally Liverpool based docker
= experiences encouraged him to join union and actively organise on its behalf
= lost a job in England after taking part in strike in 1905
= moved to Ireland as a full time organiser of NUDL - Larkin unionised Belfast’s 3,100 dockers
- May 1907 - coordinated a strike afainst the Belfast Steamship Company, to secure union recognitiom, shorter working hours and better wages
= wanted a min. wage of 27 shillings for a 60hr week
= June, presented to all companies in Belfast
= larger companies refused to consider demands
= strike grew broader - drew support from the carters afer July and some skilled workers from the shipyards (came out on a secondary strike action)
= significance of broadening - traditional means in which employers would break strike action became increasingly impractical - usually would import blackleg labour in the place of the employed worker
- but there was no one willing to transport goods elsewhere
= strike further esculated in mid-July - low ranking sympathetic officier - William Barrett - refised to ride in vehicle transporting blackleg labourer to the docks
+ precipitated a mutiny in the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)
+ 300 other police constables refused to protect the employers’ blackleg workers
+ troops drafted in to carry out protective duties
= strike = climax on 10th Aug - mass meeting attended by 10,000 Protestant and Catholic workers
+ clash with troops and caused 2 deaths
= strike ended when the NUDL leader James Sexton and the leaders of the General Federation of Trade Unionists (GFTU), Aleen Gee and Isaac Mitchell sought to find a deal for the different striking groups - also favourable to employers
= motivation for end = based on positions they held - as trade union officials, assumed personal interests as their roles offered middle class careers = opportunity for advancement
- in interest of promoting these opportunities, Sexton and others saw themselves as arbitrators between employer and employee
+ outcome - carters persuaded back to work after promises of wage increase, no union recognition
+ left dockers isolated and eventually defeated - end of Aug
Significance of the Belfast strike
- first time unskilled labourers were able to organise for their own denefot
- trade unionism in Ireland before c20th - primarlily conservative movement dominated by the skilled professions
= 1907 - opportunity for the broader masses of unskilled workers to assert themselves - dock strike = widespreak worker solidarity across employment barrier
= although started by unskilled drs, other professions quickly joined I support - secondary or ‘sympathy’ strikes increased the potency of the working-class industrial action, showed how much could be achieved
- strike defeated ONLY because of efforts of the unions themselves
= only achieved by dividing worker’s ranks
= provided a positive experience from the point of view for further action in the future - sympathy generated among Belfast working classes
- ignored religious backgrounds (united p/c)
= sectarianism rife, because of developments and question of home rule
= before 1907, issue of religion effective, traditional means of diving the worlds population - feature of the growing competition for jobs (especially skilled trafes_
- strike = potential to overcome religious battier and support one another in new, class-based diviosn against employers
- powerful tool for labouring classes to utilise campaigh
The Irish Transport and General Workers’ union
1909
• Belfast dock strike = growing strength of working-class voice and also confidence that had been instilled by organisation into a union
• The position of workers didn’t improve substantially
o Down to backtracking by the union leadership
Especially James Sexton – General Secretary of the NUDL
• He had sought to diffuse the increasingly explosive situation after the August meeting
• Was an appropriate undertaking following the deaths from 2 bystanders and a desire to restore some clear order to the situation
• HOWEVER, securing a deal for particular sections of those on strike at the expense of others quickly led to the end of the strike
o Taking workers from position of strength to that of accepting a deal that was to the advantage of the employers
o Undermined the effectiveness of the strike action and left many workers vulnerable
Especially the dockers who were the last to return to work
• Was to alienate Jim Larkin he felt let down by the NUDL leadership and its conservative feelings towards the August meeting
o In the subsequent months…. Larkin organised additional branches of the NUDL in Ireland
Encouraged militant stand against employers
• Brought him into further confrontation with Sexton
o Who seemed more inclined towards developing good relations with the employers?
o In many regards, this was an appropriate objective in terms of negotiating benefits
Contrasted with Larkin’s more socialist stance
Frustrated by the perceived softness of Sexton
• January 1909 organised a new union to co-ordinate Ireland’s workers
o Called the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU)
Intended as a broad-based organisation for all trades
• But specifically, for the unskilled workers who otherwise had little interpretation in Ireland
• The significance of the ITGWU:
o Deliberately intended as a general union rather than a specific trades union
Therefore, would promote a much larger membership
• This method paid off,
o Early 1911, the membership was 5,000
o End of the year 18,000 = Ireland’s largest union
o Size and broad base of the organisation gave unskilled workers a much better chance to promote the interests because it increased the likelihood of broader and more impactful strikes
Since anyone within the union would be required to strike if that was the overall decision
o Implication behind such an organisation was the creation of a much stronger workers union that could push and protect workers’ rights
o ITGWU signalled the birth of a more militant intention to address the issue of working conditions and to ensure that employers began to recognise the power of their employees
o Departure for Irish unionism since older unions were often inclined to try to negotiate with employers for better wages or shorter hours there was usually the tactic acceptance that the employers were in the dominant position
o Consequently, unions would only seek to extract improvements that employers were willing to grant
o The suggestion with Larkin’s new organisation was that the power balance would shift, and the workers would be in a much more dangerous position to make demands of their employers
• It was the first Irish union to outwardly embrace a more radical agenda
• It adopted syndicalism as its central ideology
o It was a new economic system that offered an alternative it the capitalist system that existed
o Syndicalism is a form of socialism that encouraged the organisation of syndicates – small self-organising groups – to manage and run industries
Groups would be made up of the workers themselves and therefore the differences between employers and workers would be removed
o Syndicalism was quite a radical pursuit in the early c20th
Jim Larkin
1876-1947
- sought to instil greater militancy and generate a more assertive attitude
- ‘Irish Worker’ newspaper est. 1911
= 20,000 copies per week in Dublin
= mouthpiece of ITGWU - believed the means to attain grater benefits lay with working people - they could instil solidarity
- organised masses of unskilled labour, reached out to skilled professionals through Irish Transport and General Worker’s Union
- exceptional skill and energy (I.e. public speaking)
- Nov 1908 - Caters Strike, Union recognised and wages increased
= 3,000 on strike
= but basic wages remained the same
James Connolly
1868-1916
- organiser of ITGWU - Larkin’s right hand amn
- won a pay rise for seamen and firemen
- established Irish Textile Worker’s Union for female linen workers
- Irish workers becoming organised
- was theoretician of labour movement
- organised the Irish labour party in 1912
= to represent the working class
= industrial action took over attempts in 1913 - better grasp of socialist theory
William Martin Murphy (1844-1919)
- Ireland’s wealthiest business man, employers rallied to
- catholic
- Home Rule MP
= lost seat in Parliament after split I 1892 - made fortune in transport business (railways/tramways)
- in Dublin…
= controlled the United Tramway compay
= owned largest hotel, Clergy departments and 2 newspapers - paid for wages and tolerated unions of the skilled workers
- opposed to militancy (i.e. Larkin and Connolly)
- defeated strike action
= 1911, by the Society of Railway Servants (ASRS)
= threatened them with lockout - determined to suffocate the ITGWU in Dublin
= found Dublin Employer’s Federation in 1911
= employers didn’t employ members of the ITGWU - July 1913
=called meeting of his employees from Dublin United Tramway Company (to form ‘legislative union’) - Aug 1913 - sacked all members of the ITGWU
= 40 men and 20 boys
Events and Significance of the Dublin General Strike
1913-14
• Actions of William Murphy = industrial action
o General strike by the ITGWU
Began on 26th August 1913
Followed the dismissal of Murphy’s ITGWU employees
First day of the Dublin Horse Show strike among transport workers = maximum disruption
• 10:00am, trams and buses were stopped, conductors abandoned their vehicles
• 700/1700 of the Dublin United Tramways Company went on strike
o Supported by the distributors of Murphy’s Irish Independent refused to handle paper
• Eason and Co. – Ireland’s largest newsagent – refused to refrain from selling the paper when asked by Larkin
o ITGWU members on Dublin’s Dun Laoghaire docks refused to handle any of the company’s goods
Extended the strike into broader action, dockers came out in sympathy, violent response
o Retaliatory lockout by the employers of Dublin
o Began in August 1913
o Paralysed Dublin for 6 months – threatened trade
o Sympathy from:
Keir Hardie leader of the Independent Labour Party in Britain
• Openly supported the ITGWU’s actions
Broader labour movement financial;; and food aid for Ireland’s striking industrial workers
Involvement of the Dublin Metropolitan Police in strike
• 28th August Larkin and the ITGWU leadership were arrested and charged with seditious libel, conspiracy and assembly
o A union demonstration in O’Connell Street arranged for the following Sunday was banned
o City authorities clearly throwing their support behind the employers, used tools at their disposal to destroy strike
o Dublin-Metropolitan Police Force used as strike-breakers
• Weekend 30-31 August baton charged a crowd of workers in O’Connell Street = further violence
• 2 fatally injured James Byrne and James Nolan
• More than 200 injured
• Over 500 people had received hospital attention
The British Labour Movement becomes aware of the strike
• The actions of the strike promoted the workers’ cause in GB
• The scale of violence and brutality in the stories were published in British newspapers, i.e. the Daily Herald
o Dublin correspondent = Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Graphically conveyed the events, his own words but also the strikers that he interviewed
Brought the situation in Dublin to the forefront of British Trade unionists’ minds
September 1913 William Partridge (member of the ITGWU) travelled to Manchester to address the Trade Union Congress
• Spoke of his union fighting for its survival and that of a wider trade unionism in Ireland
o Keir Hardie, leader of the British Labour Party went to Dublin to see the situation
Visited Larkin in prison
Attended the funeral of James Nolan
o General strike was given greater exposure to the broader labour movement in Britain
The general strike and the Catholic Church
• Majority of ITGWU = practising Catholics
• Larkin = catholic
• Growth of ITGWU and its militant attitude = source of concern for Catholic Church because of its socialist leanings
• Mid c19th, the Church adopted a more formal position that reflected and helped to reinforce a more conservative set of social values, preferable to new middle class
• Catholic Church had become more increasingly critical of new ideas
o Including socialism and revolutionary nationalism as embodied by the Fenian Movement
o Basically, objected to anything that threatened the status quo and its own position
• Father John Condon
o Wrote several withering attacks in local newspapers decrying the union’s socialist tendencies and how it was compatible with capitalism
• Critical nature of church showed in the ‘Save the Kiddies’ scheme
o Archbishop of Dublin, William Walsh open letter to the Dublin newspapers condemning mothers and suggesting they had abandoned their faith, sending kids to strangers who may not be C
o Significant attack against ITGWU
o Placed CC support with employers
o HOWEVER, the rank and file membership remained focused and refused to let their faith affect the principle of unionisation
• The actions of the Dublin police force and the general broadening of the strike affected other employers and individuals
o The strike became a battle for the working class and their employers
o It was the struggle for the principle of workers to be able to collectively stand up for their employment rights and to join union for their self-protection within a Capitalist environment hostile to their interests
The lockout and the implication for workers and employers
• 2nd September the employers rallied together in Dublin and agreed to a lockout
o Coal merchants locked their doors to their workforce, union members or not
o Mineral water producers, Bewley and Draper locked out 200 people
o Jacob’s biscuits employed 2,000 members, small percentage were unionists
• End of September 25,000 people had been put out of work by 400 firms
• Employees had been asked to sign document pledging not to join the ITGWU or support it, or they were dismissed
o Thousands refused to sign
• Purpose of lockout to break the solidarity of the working class that the militant ITGWU stimulated
• Murphy recognised the power of the union lay in the collective approach it adopted
• Lockout undermined this tactic by uniting the employers in solidarity and then taking advantage of the superior financial resource they had at their disposal to wage a war of attrition against the union
• Began to take effect at the end of September, many strikers had been put out for nearly a month and were beginning to suffer the privations of surviving on meagre strike pay
• Employers did not go financially unscathed as the overall cost to their profits during the lockout amounted to £300,000
o Murphy’s Dublin Tramway Company its net profit drop from £142,382 to £119,871
• Relief on 28th September ship called the Hare docked
o Carrying 60,000 boxes of food, each able to feed a family of 5
o Come from the GB working class who were aware of the situation following the August brutality
• Next few months, more ships arrived
• October £13,000 worth of aid was sent
• November £16,000
• December £21,000
• Enhanced the morale by showing the working class that they had the sympathy of their fellow classes in Britain
The Askwith Commission
• Late September Board of Trade announced there was to be an inquiry into the dispute in Dublin
• Chairman Sir George Askwith
• Intention was to fins a mutually agreeable solution to the industrial dispute which would end the confrontation and also the paralysis of the city
• After meeting with both employers and representatives of the strikes, following proposals
o The withdrawal of the employer’s ban on ITGWU membership
o The end to sympathy strikes
o The creation of the Conciliation Boards
• Very acceptable to the IGWTU
• The provision of the Conciliation Boards to arbitrate any further dispute offered a more impartial means of securing any improvements required
• Recommendations dismissed by employers
o Their intention of the strike was to destroy the ITGWU
o 14 October presented their own terms
Demanded the unions’ leadership be replaced with men amenable to the employers
Any striking worker would be reappointed into their position when there was a vacancy
o Distasteful to the ITGWU
• Significance of the Askwith Commissions failure to end the lockout and strike was that it sent a clear message to the country that the intention of the employers was to destroy Larkin and his brand of militant unionism
• Presented the employers as vindictive and unwilling to compromise, turned public opinion against them
• It was the employers who sought to continue the trouble
• Gave the ITGWU wider public support, enhanced the morale but didn’t improve its standing in terms of financial and employment benefit
‘Save the Kiddies’ Scheme
• Enhanced the position of the ITGWU
• Proposal to send kids of Dublin striking workers to GB until dispute was resolved
• Tabled by Dora Montefiore a GB socialist and feminist who sympathised with the Dublin workers and was associated with the Daily Herald newspaper
o She felt that it would be a very practical assistance, the strike continuation made it harder for families to feed themselves
• Also be a public relations coup that would expose the heartless nature of the employers
• Arrangements made in October 1913
• The union undertook the first consignment of children out of Dublin
• Attempt was a failure
• C Church and the Archbishop of Dublin opposed the scheme and had publicly condemned it in the press
• Priests and lay opposition to the scheme lined the railway stations to prevent the children from leaving
• Motivation behind the Archbishop’s objection was his belief that Montefiore and her colleagues were agents of the white slave trade
• To overcome this, the union tried to send the children to C homes in Belfast
• This was objected to, confrontation developed that eventually saw he police intervene to prevent the children from boarding
