Victory!

At first the members of the Chain Manufacturers' Association (C.M.A.) refused to pay the women chainmakers the minimum rate. They said the women's case was exaggerated, and that they could not afford to pay, as long as employers outside the Association carried on paying their workers at the old rate. Only ten days into the strike, all that changed.

The C.M.A. faced four problems. They seriously underestimated the support the women would get from all classes of people around the country. They had not reckoned with the determination of the women themselves to fight for the new rates. They were worried that the Government was refusing to take chain from firms not paying the minimum rates, and finally, they began to see the strike as a way of getting rid of the middlemen.

On the 2nd September 1910 the C.M.A. met with leaders of the women's union, the National Federation of Women Workers (N.F.W.W.) and made an extraordinary offer. They agreed to pay their women chainmakers the minimum rate, if the Union would guarantee to keep out on strike all those women refused the rate by the non-associated employers and middlemen. They were asking the Union to protect them from unfair competition.

Mary Macarthur, on behalf of the N.F.W.W. accepted the offer. She was only able to do so, because of the generosity of the public in donating money to the strike fund. Mary had estimated that £1,000 was needed to support the strikers. The total was closer to £4,000. The dispute ended on 22nd October after every employer and middleman had agreed to pay the minimum rate.

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Updated:	Thu 12 Jul 2007 - 1
Interpretation written by	Barbara Harris
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