THE 1913 STRIKE AND LOCKOUT

1.    In 1913 most of Ireland’s industry was in Dublin.

2.   The workers had very little rights, most were unskilled, they got poor pay and work was temporary.

3.   Dublin had the worst slums in Europe with most Dubliners living in Tenements with no running water and diseases.

4.   James Larkin and James Larkin set up Ireland’s first Trade Union, the ITGWU and demanded workers rights.

5.   William Martin Murphy was the richest man in Ireland. He owned Clerys, Easons  and the Dublin Tramway Company.

6.   He got all the factory owners to fire any worker who joined the new Union

7.   Larkin and Connolly got every worker in Dublin, starting with the Tram workers to go out on strike.

8.   The factory owners locked out the workers from their businesses.

9.   The Strike and Lockout lasted 9 months. The people of Dublin were starving.

10.The Unions in England sent over food ships and Countess Markievz set up soup kitchens.

11.  James Connolly set up the Irish Citizen Army, a bunch of tough workers to help fight police brutality

12.In the end the workers went back to work and every factory owner except Murphy recognised the rights of workers.