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NEWS


Longest strike in history remembered

The NASUWT joined speakers from other trade unions to remember the longest strike in British history at a rally in a South Norfolk village.

The Burston Strike School Rally commemorated the courage of two school teachers, Kitty and Tom Higdon, who struggled for their employment rights in the face of oppression from local gentry because they refused to educate pupils to ‘know their place’.

Their pupils went on strike in support of the couple, a dispute that ran from 1914 to 1939. The Higdons set up the ‘strike school’ following their dismissal to provide an education for local children. The school is now a museum and plays host to the annual rally and festival.

NASUWT General Secretary Chris Keates highlighted the importance of Burston and its relevance in today’s world amid the ‘savage cuts’ to public services.

Ms Keates said that Burston served to remind the public and ourselves of the importance of making a stand against injustice and oppression and that in doing so we can all make a profound difference in defining the kind of society we want.

She added: “Never has the need been more pressing than now to remind people of the need for social justice, fairness and democracy.”

Ms Keates spoke alongside Baroness Smith, and the Right Honourable Tony Benn. Mr Benn reflected on the values embodied by the Higdons before a march along the renowned ‘candlestick’ route.

Shadow Secretary of State for Education Ed Balls also attended and spoke at the event.

A programme of music and magic kept crowds entertained with performances from the Red Flags and Diss High School Soul Band.


Women chainmakers celebrated

A century of the fight for gender equality was celebrated at the Women Chainmakers’ Festival last month.

The event marked 100 years since the 1910 dispute in which 800 women chainmakers were ‘locked out’ of work for demanding their employers pay them the agreed minimum wage for their labours.

The women won the dispute and established their right to a minimum wage, setting the scene for 89 years of campaigning before the establishment of a national minimum wage in 1999.

The importance of the chainmakers’ action in advancing both the battle for women’s equality and fair pay for all workers is commemorated at the annual festival, which is held at the Black Country Living Museum in the West Midlands.

Fittingly, one of the newest buildings at the museum is the Workers’ Institute, which was originally built from the surplus in the women chainmakers’ strike fund and now gives a new focus to the role of women’s labour in Black Country history.

The NASUWT nationally supported this year’s event and played an active role in the celebrations, including hosting a stall and taking part in the traditional trade union march around the site, led by the NASUWT Riverside Brass Band.

Attendees were treated to a varied programme of music, history and debate with speakers including veteran politician Tony Benn and Frances O’Grady, Deputy General Secretary of the TUC.

The legacy left by the chainmakers’ struggle was remembered through a series of Leftfield debates, which invited festival goers to discuss and learn more about the history of the chainmakers’ strike, women on the front line and vulnerable employment.

These debates, along with the centenary celebrations, were a reminder of how far the workers’ movement has come since 1910 and also of the huge number of workers who are still denied the right to fair pay and conditions, equality and dignity at work.