Chainmaker Festival Leaflet – Revised-33462
Did you know that Britain’s first ever minimum wage was won in Cradley Heath?
In 1910 the women chainmakers’ of Cradley Heath threw down their hammers for 10 long weeks before finally winning a 100% pay rise!
After years of suffering poverty wages, the domestic chainmakers’ of Cradley Heath and Old Hill rose up to take on their bosses.
Organised through their trade union, the National Federation of Women Workers, and brilliantly led by Mary Macarthur, women, children and men working in the domestic chain making trade threw off their shackles and fought for a better life.
How would you feel if your wages doubled overnight?
Celebrate this important victory in our history.