| 1907 saw a wave of strikes in Belfast as workers fought attempts to sack union members and lower wages. A century later, Belfast workers remember. An Irish worker writes... |
The Belfast strikes of 1907: unity, not sectarianism
WORKERS, JUNE 2007 ISSUE
In Belfast this year the traditional May Day celebrations took the form of commemorating the wave of strikes which swept through Belfast in the summer of 1907. Led by Jim Larkin, the common threads that linked the wave of strikes that summer were the call for union recognition, better pay and conditions and resistance to the employers' attempts to defeat the growing working class unity of the Belfast strikers by provoking sectarian unrest.
The strikes began on 26 April when a coal importer called Samuel Kelly dismissed union members among his coal heavers in order to suppress wages. On 6 May, union members working for the Belfast Steamship Company walked off the job rather than work with non-union labour. Faced with this, Kelly backed down and agreed to reinstate the sacked men but the shipping company, seeing the walk-out as an opportunity, rejected all attempts to end the dispute.
The shipping company was owned by Thomas Gallaher, the cigarette manufacturer, and on 16 May over 1,000 women in his tobacco factory struck in support of the National Union of Dock Labourers and a large pay increase. Although the women went back shortly afterwards, the strike demands were widened to include union recognition from all shipping and railway companies and on 26 June all union members in the Belfast port joined the strike.
Strike-breakers
The employers responded by sacking all the workers and replaced them with scabs provided with military and police escorts in an effort to break the strike. This in turn led to further escalation when carters joined the strike in support of the demand for union recognition.
In a further attempt to undermine the strike the Belfast Telegraph, at the behest of the Government, gave prominent coverage to rumours that Catholic workers were receiving more strike pay than their Protestant counterparts. Although a Trades Council investigation proved that this was not the case, considerable sectarian tension was stirred up within the trade union movement in the city. Massive demonstrations and marches were organised in support of the workers linking east and west Belfast and this eased the situation somewhat.
The high point of the strike was reached on 27 July. Between 500 and 800 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary mutinied when a Constable William Barrett refused to sit beside a scab on a cart during escort duty. Escort duties were then taken over by military patrols and huge areas of the city controlled by the army in an effort to force scab labour through the picket lines. The action of the army led to a further escalation of sectarian tension and when rioting broke out on the Lower Falls leading to the death of three civilians it was clear that the strike was losing momentum and a settlement soon followed.
Unity in action: Belfast workers enjoying a sunny May Day march this year.
Although union recognition had not been achieved, better pay and conditions were won and the trade union movement emerged intact as a force for worker unity and against sectarianism, and was able to continue the fight for workers' rights into the future.
During the course of the strike it was recognised that the greatest force to have been overcome was not the determination and brutality of the employers and the Government, though that was real enough, but the sectarian tensions that bedevilled the labour movement. Everything was done to combat this, the Catholic Jim Larkin even standing down at one point as strike leader in favour of Alex Boyd of the Municipal Employees, a member of the Independent Orange Order. Indeed the Order played a significant role in the development of the strike providing financial support and assistance to Catholic and Protestant workers alike.
Vanishing industry
Much has changed since 1907, not least the fact that a significant part of the industry that was setting for the strike action has all but disappeared from Belfast, in common with the prevailing de-industrialisation of Britain. However, there are some signs that the lessons learned that year are only now beginning to emerge as a potential force in the politics of today.
With the restoration of a devolved Assembly on 8 May this year there is a growing sense that all is not as it was before. For the first time in living memory the election that led to the establishment of the Assembly, was not dominated solely by constitutional matters.
The main concern of voters was the introduction of water charges, the appalling state of the health service, the crisis in local government and education and the growing awareness from both sides of the political divide that Westminster could not provide solutions to any of this.
Sinn Fein and the DUP agreed to form an administration not because of any coming together in love and harmony but simply because the workers in northern Ireland refused to accept any other course of action. They wanted their main concerns addressed by a group of people who were accountable to them.
Whether they are up to the job is, of course, another matter but workers have now firmly set the agenda and should be prepared if necessary to finish the job themselves.