By 1910, tens of thousands of sacks were used to transport coal, wheat and cereals to and around Liverpool docks. The women who cleaned and repaired the bags worked in a dirty, grimy environment with the air full of dust. According to a contemporary journal, the Liverpool Review, “There was probably no harder working or worse paid members of the community”
Over many years Mary Bamber and the Warehouse Workers Union had been organising the women so they had the confidence to fight to improve their pay and conditions. Mary was forthright in expressing her support for the Sack and Bag workers - “Women and girls carrying a child had to carry as many as 25 and 30 sacks up two flights of stairs, a load that was only fit for a man. Before the union came along, they had to carry these heavy loads up from the cellar to the sixth floor. The union got it limited to two floors, but even now the conditions are sweated. We are going to challenge the whole state of affairs which allows the women of this country to work for such miserable wages and in such conditions.”
In 1924, women workers had had enough. About 1,600 walked out on strike.The strike was an active strike that involved picketing and marches around the city – and not just to the usual destinations. “We will go down Bold Street* and show the ladies with their 50 guinea dresses that their dresses come from their worn out and unfortunate sisters. We will go to Exchange Flags and let the merchant princes see how their wealth is made.”
The strike took place just over a 100 years ago and is now practically forgotten. NWLH is planning to shine a light on the Sack and Bag trade, the women who worked in it and their struggle for pay and dignity in a future issue.
*Bold Street was the street used by the rich and super rich of Liverpool and so was nicknamed the “Bond Street of the North”.