workingclasshistory

On this day, 5 July 1888, 1400 women and girls working at the Bryant & May match factory in east London walked out on strike in solidarity with a worker who had been sacked for criticising the appalling conditions at the plant. Management quickly offered to reinstate the worker, but the strikers refused to return to work until management agreed a number of other concessions like ending unfair deductions from wages.
Pictured is the strike committee, along with Annie Besant and Herbert Burrows, local activists. This is a short account of the dispute: https://libcom.org/history/matchgirls-strike-1888-john-simkin https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1160659660785849/?type=3