The crowds came, the sun shone, the speakers and acts turned up – all in all a great day for the 5th annual Women Chainmakers’ festival!
“This was a brilliant celebration of our history and heritage”, said Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon, “and vitally important as the Chainmakers’ is the only festival in the country to mark the achievement of women in an industrial dispute”.
The festival continues to attract senior figures from the trade union and labour movement, with both Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, and Diana Holland, Assistant General Secretary of Unite, speaking on the stage. Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Sylvia Heal MP, was also present in her role as Patron of the festival.
With some 3,800 people attending this year’s festival, well up on the 3,000 who attended in both 2007 and 2008, Cheryl Pidgeon, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary and master of ceremonies on the stage said, “This festival is building nicely towards next year’s centenary festival. I am incredibly pleased that the trade union movement has taken the Women Chainmakers’ festival to its’ heart in this way and is supporting the celebration in ever increasing numbers”.
General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Christine Blower is to be the main speaker at the 2009 Women Chainmakers' Festival which returns for its fifth year at the Black Country Living Museum, Dudley on Saturday 12th September, 2009.
Blower, who was elected as Deputy General Secretary of the NUT in 1997 joined the union as a student and has been a career-long NUT member. She has held the post of President and Secretary of the NUT in Hammersmith and Fulham and had a 33 year career in teaching.
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers said: “It is a great privilege to be speaking at this festival. The courage and determination shown by the women chainmakers to demand a decent living wage is a message that is as relevant today as it was nearly 100 years ago. The campaign to make the minimum wage a living must still go on.”
Blower led a one day strike over teacher’s pay in 2005, the first national strike by the union for over 20 years. She has also criticised government plans to fast track unemployed executives into teaching in six months.
The Women Chainmakers' Festival celebrates the pioneering work of the women Chainmakers of Cradley Heath through music, drama, dance, poetry and performance and 'flies the banner' for the historically important role of women within Britain's working and industrial heritage.
The 1910 Women Chainmakers' dispute was a significant moment in labour history with hundreds of low paid women, earning pitiful wages for their work, successfully prosecuting a dispute which laid the foundations for today's National Minimum Wage.
Emma Middleton, Marketing Manager for the Black Country Living Museum said: “We are enormously pleased Christine Blower has agreed to speak at the 2009 festival. It is, we believe, a recognition of the importance of the women chainmakers' strike and the festival and raises the awareness of the role played by women worldwide in the workforce.”
Robb Johnson, one of the finest singer/songwriters working in the UK today, along with his band the Irregulars will be this year’s headline act at the Women Chainmakers’ Festival which takes place on Saturday 12th September, 2009 at the Black Country Living Museum.
Robb and the Irregulars were voted the Daily Telegraph’s Folk Album of 1998 and Johnson is recognised by many as "Britain's finest songwriter of the last decade" for songs that are "incisive, clever and witty and you can sing them on your way to work". Together with the Irregulars Johnson plays solid no-nonsense rock ballads with a folk edge and counts former cabinet minister, Tony Benn, amongst his fans.
The Women Chainmakers’ Festival is the only event in the country specifically celebrating the achievement of women in the workplace. Mary Macarthur’s vision and the 1910 'Lock Out' by the women chainmakers was an historically significant moment, focusing the world’s attention upon the country’s lowest paid workers. The women’s landmark victory laid the legislative foundation upon which today’s national minimum wage is built. It also led to the building of the Cradley Heath Worker’s Institute which was saved from demolition and has been rebuilt at the Black Country Living Museum.
Emma Middleton, Marketing Manager said: “The Black Country Living Museum is delighted to welcome Robb and the Irregulars to the Women Chainmakers’ Festival and we very much hope it will be the first of many visits. The Festival aims to continue the Macarthur vision and promote, support and inspire the positive role of women in the workforce. Robb and the Irregulars will bring a new dimension to celebrating the 1910 women chainmakers’ dispute.”
Welcome to the official blog for the Women Chainmakers' Festival. This festival takes place at the Black Country Living Museum, Tipton Road, Dudley, on Saturday 12th September 2009. The festival commemorates the 1910 dispute in which 800 women chainmaker's were "locked out" of work for demanding the employers paid them the agreed minimum wage for their labours. The women won the dispute - and established their right to a minimum wage which set the scene for 89 years of campaigning before the establishment of a national minimum wage in 1999.Announcements will be posted to keep you up to date with the events taking place at the festival including speakers and entertainment.
