Remembering the matchgirls who struck for better pay and conditions

UNISON is backing a campaign to create a lasting memorial to the matchgirls – the women and teenage girls who took strike action against appalling conditions at the Bryant & May match factory in east London, in 1888.
Little could they have known that the ‘matchgirls’ strike’ would become an iconic moment in the history of the British labour movement, cited as the beginning of new unionism, and inspiring many more workers to organise and fight injustice.
UNISON’s