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In 1910 the women chainmakers of Cradley Heath focussed the world's attention on the plight of Britain's low-paid women workers involved in the ?home-working sweated industries', hammering out chain-links in sheds in the backyards of their homes with their babies and children for 5 shillings (25p) for a 50-hour week. Led by the charismatic union organiser and campaigner, Mary Reid Macarthur, hundreds of women laid down their tools to strike for a living wage. The success of the ten-week strike more than doubled their earnings and helped to make the principle of a national minimum wage a reality.

Creatives/Company

Author(s): Neil Gore, John Kirkpatrick