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So good they named a bridge after her- Rosie Hackett

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  • 04-09-2013 10:17pm
    #1
    jonniebgood1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,577 ✭✭✭


    It is appropriate 100 years after the lockout to give some recognition to early trade Unionists. Nowadays trade unions are seen as damaging to many industries but in their early struggles they were fighting for things that really mattered, safety for workers, conditions, etc. This was where Rosie Hackett came to prominence. This is just some background info on her:
    In 1911 Rosie was working as a messenger for the Jacob’s Factory. The conditions at the time were so bad for workers that Jim Larkin himself described them as ‘sending them from this earth 20 years before their time’. The male workers withdrew their labour in pursuit of better working conditions and Rosie was one of the first women to come out in sympathy with them.

    Rosie helped to galvanise and organise more than 3000 women in the Jacobs Factory to withdraw their labour in protest. The women were successful and they received better working conditions and an increase in pay. Rosie was just 18 years old at the time.

    Two weeks later Rosie cofounded the Irish Women Worker Union, which was set up to protect women from the horrendous conditions which they were expected to work in.

    In 1913, being actively involved in the trade union movement, she once again helped to organise the women in Jacobs to strike and protest against poor working conditions. Rosie was in the crowd that picketed O’Connell Street on Sunday the 31st of August and resulted in the infamous ‘Bloody Sunday’. This began the 1913 Dublin Lockout that lasted for more than four months. In the end, Rosie lost her job in Jacobs but played a huge part in the struggle for better working conditions. She then went on to train as a printer.

    In 1916, Rosie joined the Irish Citizen’s Army in the fight for Irish independence from Britain where she fought alongside Constance Markievicz and Michael Mallin. She was among the small group that printed the 1916 Proclamation and gave it to James Connolly. They were able to print it off on a faulty printing press and they handed it to him amazingly, still wet.

    She was also a part of the group that occupied the Royal College of Surgeons at Stephen’s Green. She was later sent to Kilmainam with her comrades.

    After her release, she re-founded the Irish Women Workers Union with Louie Bennett and Helen Chenevix. The union organised over 70000 women. She then went on to work in the Eden Quay Co-Operative where she worked for over 40 years.

    In 1970 Rosie was awarded with a gold medal for giving 60 years of her life to the Trade Union Movement. Rosie passed away in 1976, aged 84.
    http://www.labouryouth.ie/2013/04/rosie-hackett-by-jennifer-gartland/

    Any information on more specifics about what type of conditions prevailed in 1913 workplaces might give a better idea of what she fought against...


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    #2
    Jolly Red Giant
    Registered Users Posts: 3,434 ✭✭✭Jolly Red Giant


    I actually don't like the idea of naming streets, bridges, towns etc after individuals (when I think of it these days the image that pops into my head is of Bob Hoskins in Enemy at the Gates screaming 'This is STALIN-grad"). My preference would be to name places in a format that represents the community where they are located - it history, language, culture, heritage, colloquialisms etc - or commemorating historical / cultural events.

    That's my pet peeve of the day out of the way.


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    #3
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,671 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    Jolly Red Giant wrote: »
    I actually don't like the idea of naming streets, bridges, towns etc after individuals (when I think of it these days the image that pops into my head is of Bob Hoskins in Enemy at the Gates screaming 'This is STALIN-grad").
    From reading a biography of one of Hitler's Field Marshals, apparently he was obsessed by taking the city that born his rivals name, and numerous theatre wide decisions fatally hinged on that fact.


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    #4
    Nitochris
    Closed Accounts Posts: 122 ✭✭Nitochris


    jonniebgood1 wrote: »
    It is appropriate 100 years after the lockout to give some recognition to early trade Unionists. Nowadays trade unions are seen as damaging to many industries but in their early struggles they were fighting for things that really mattered, safety for workers, conditions, etc. This was where Rosie Hackett came to prominence. This is just some background info on her:

    http://www.labouryouth.ie/2013/04/rosie-hackett-by-jennifer-gartland/

    Any information on more specifics about what type of conditions prevailed in 1913 workplaces might give a better idea of what she fought against...

    Connolly's take on the conditions, context and gains of the time http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Connolly_on_the_Origins_of_the_Lockout

    For those with the time I found the housing inquiry of around the time online while doing thesis research
    http://source.southdublinlibraries.ie/bitstream/10599/9695/5/HousingConditionsOCR.pdf

    And for those interested Conor McCabe has been placing the Larkinite newspaper the Irish Worker online since July
    http://dublinopinion.com/

    A broad collection of sources is available here the (first page has a lot about the conditions):
    http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Dublin_1913Strike_and_Lockout


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