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Slate strike's scars - 100 years on |
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© 大象传媒 |
That was what happened in April 1900, when the Penrhyn quarry manager, attempting to crack down on union activity, banned the collection of union subscriptions on quarry premises. That action began what became one of the longest and bitterest industrial disputes in British history, a dispute which still echoes today.
Some men protested at the restriction and were immediately banned from the premises; the remainder, nearly 3,000 of them, walked out.
Around 400 were lured back to work, just over a year later, with a gift of a sovereign and a promise of a pay rise; they became branded as “Bradwyr”, or “Traitors”, by the strikers. Families loyal to the strike would place notices in their windows saying in Welsh: “There is no traitor in this house”.
The months dragged on. There were some disturbances, and the Riot Act - formally warning the protestors to disperse and authorising the use of police or even military force if necessary - was read on one occasion. Meanwhile, the union and the quarry owner Lord Penrhyn conducted rival worldwide hearts-and-minds campaigns through the columns of the press, which followed the extraordinary dispute with great interest.
In the end, though, it was not hearts or minds which decided the issue, but the empty stomachs of the strikers’ families. The men went back to work in November 1903, their union still unrecognised. They had held out for three years and seven months.
Words: Grahame Davies
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