Armstrong Whitworth Strike: Women Workers in World War I

On this day in working-class history, the 17th of March.

On the 17th of March 1916, around half of the 12,000 women working at the Armstrong Whittworth

Ellswick Munitions factory in Newcastle, England went on strike for better pay.

It was the biggest strike by women arms workers during World War I to that point.

Authorities were taken aback by the women's, quote, great determination and cohesion,

end quote. And a Ministry of Munitions wage tribunal was swiftly held and resolved in

the workers' favour, awarding all the workers a pay increase on the 24th of March.

In the aftermath of the action, Ellswick hired a welfare supervisor,

along with four e-assistance, whose job it was to break up organisation

of women workers at the plant. The supervisor, Miss Jane, took over all hiring and supervision

of women workers, and used more middle-class and educated women like former teachers and university

graduates to supervise unruly workers. However, bosses' measures had limited success as the

confidence of the workers had been massively increased, and they began threatening strike action

on more occasions to improve their conditions. In 1917, the women walked out on mass once more,

winning union recognition, tea breaks and new toilets amongst other things.

Numerous other employers in Britain also recruited welfare supervisors at the same time

to try to stop strikes by women workers. Although after the war ended and many women

were pushed out of the workforce once more, the practice stopped.

The sources, maps and all of our anniversaries each day, check out the honest day section of our

stories at at stories.workingclasshistory.com, and if you value our work, support us at patreon.com,

slash work and class history. Link's in the show notes. The music by the car duareo. See you tomorrow.