A landmark strike by women took place in Bermondsey in the summer of 1911. Some 15,000 women from over twenty factories with no particular history of union organizing spontaneously came out on strike. Most of the strikers were involved in food processing - many in jam making. As Ursula de la Mare (2008) has commented, these women were very poorly paid and had generally to endure adverse economic and social conditions. Actions by London dockers’ may have helped to stimulate their action - there was some help from docker's leaders such as Ben Tillett (op. cit.).
After the strike began the National Federation of Women Workers moved in
organizers - most especially Mary Macarthur. The result was the organisation of
women in eighteen factories: jam and pickle makers, biscuit makers, tea packers,
cocoa makers, glue and size-makers, tin-box makers and bottle washers (Cliff
1984 based on Drake 1920). Concessions were gained in a number of factories. For
example, at Pinks’ jam factory (on Long Lane SE1), the wage rose from 9 to
11 shillings per week.
Some writers (e.g. Cliff 1984) have argued that this wave of activity led to a rise in women membership of the unions, which doubled between 1910 and 1914, and that the strike was an important impetus to militancy in the union movement. However, de la Mare makes the case for the strike being best seen as an independent, localized protest, supported by women trade unionists, but still separate from the wider industrial unrest of the time. That said, it did provide a powerful example of local action by women (many of whom were young).
