Portraits and protest: workers’ rights (1848–2000)

Ever since paid jobs have existed, people have demanded to be treated and paid fairly for their work – this has often been a struggle. The Industrial Revolution Industrial Revolution The period in the 1700s and 1800s in Europe and the US when machines began to be used to do work, and industry grew rapidly. , from the mid-1700s and through the 1800s, transformed life and work in Britain.

The places where people worked, such as factories, were often dangerous and the pay was low. Workers started to campaign together to change this, and to demand to have their rights protected by the law. Workers have continued to campaign for their rights ever since.

In this resource we will use portraits of different campaigners to look at movements for workers’ rights from the mid-1800s to the early 2000s. We will explore what they wanted and how they tried to get it, and consider their successes and failures.

Click on each of the portraits below to find out more about these five campaigners. 

William Cuffay, an unemployed Unemployment A person, or number of people, not having a job. tailor, was the president of the Chartist Chartists A group of people in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s who supported the People’s Charter, a document demanding improvements to the political system. group in London. He helped to organise marches, with people from across the nation coming to London to present petitions Petition A written document signed by a large number of people that asks somebody in a position of authority to do or change something. to Parliament Parliament The group of people who are elected to make and change the laws of a country. . 

In this portrait, William Cuffay is in Newgate prison. He was imprisoned after organising – and making a speech at – a meeting of about 20,000 workers in 1848.

The meeting that Cuffay helped to organise in 1848 was on Kennington Common in London. The workers gathered in order to bring a petition Petition A written document signed by a large number of people that asks somebody in a position of authority to do or change something. to Parliament Parliament The group of people who are elected to make and change the laws of a country. . Although the meeting was peaceful, Cuffay and other leaders were accused of being involved in a plan to lead an armed uprising against the government and were arrested. They waited in prison for a year for their trial.

The original portrait from which this print was made was drawn by William Paul Dowling. He was also a Chartist Chartists A group of people in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s who supported the People’s Charter, a document demanding improvements to the political system. and was in prison with Cuffay.

Cuffay was a famous Chartist and the newspapers reported on his arrest and trial. He made a speech at the trial, speaking out against unfair laws and the lack of help for the working classes. He was found guilty and transported Transported To take something/somebody from one place to another in a vehicle. to Tasmania as punishment. He received a pardon in 1856 but decided to stay in Tasmania, where he continued to fight for workers’ rights.

The 1848 Kennington Common meeting was the final Chartist protest. Their petitions Petition A written document signed by a large number of people that asks somebody in a position of authority to do or change something. had been ignored, despite collecting millions of signatures. The Chartist movement fell apart, but many supporters went on to join other campaign groups, armed with the valuable experience that they had gained. Many of the changes the Chartists Chartists A group of people in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s who supported the People’s Charter, a document demanding improvements to the political system. had demanded were achieved over the following decades.

One of the unions that supported the Grunwick strikers Strike To refuse to work in order to improve pay or conditions. was the Union Union An organization of workers, usually in a particular industry, that exists to protect their interests and improve conditions of work. of Postal Workers. They refused to handle post to and from the Grunwick factory. This disrupted the smooth running of the business.

Even after the government got involved, the Grunwick managers refused to give in to the workers’ demands. After two years, the strike Strike To refuse to work in order to improve pay or conditions. ended.

Jayaben Desai said: ‘We have shown that workers like us, new to these shores, will never accept being treated without dignity or respect. We have shown that white workers will support us.’

Looking back years later, another Grunwick striker, Nirmalaben Patel, said:

‘Because of us, the people who stayed in Grunwick got a much better deal. When the factory moved, the van used to come to their home and pick them up because it was difficult for them to get to the new place. Can you imagine that? And they get a pension today! And we get nothing. That was because of us, because of our struggle.’

Compare these two portraits of Arthur Scargill.

Both portraits were made during the 1984 miners’ strike Strike To refuse to work in order to improve pay or conditions. . William Bowyer, the artist who made the painting, had previously worked in the mines, so he sympathised with the miners.

The photograph was taken by an official from the National Union Union An organization of workers, usually in a particular industry, that exists to protect their interests and improve conditions of work. of Miners (NUM) during the strike. Scargill was arrested for obstruction Obstruction The act of blocking a road, an entrance, a pathway, or other public passageway. following a brief scuffle with the police while picketing Picket A person or group of people who stand outside the entrance to a building in order to protest about something, especially in order to stop people from entering a workplace during a strike. Orgreave Coal Works near Sheffield.

Scargill’s defence argued that his arrest was part of a plan to remove the miners’ leader from the picket Picket A person or group of people who stand outside the entrance to a building in order to protest about something, especially in order to stop people from entering a workplace during a strike. line. He was found guilty and fined £250.

The miners’ strike was often seen as a war between the police and pickets Picket A person or group of people who stand outside the entrance to a building in order to protest about something, especially in order to stop people from entering a workplace during a strike. . The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, referred to strikers Strike To refuse to work in order to improve pay or conditions. as a ‘mob’ and called the miners’ leaders Britain’s ‘enemy within’.

Bill Morris became a member of the Transport and General Workers Union Union An organization of workers, usually in a particular industry, that exists to protect their interests and improve conditions of work. as a worker in the 1950s. He became a union officer in the 1970s despite being told that the members ‘weren’t ready for a Black officer’. When he was voted the union’s leader in 1991, he became the first Black leader of a major British trade union Union An organization of workers, usually in a particular industry, that exists to protect their interests and improve conditions of work. .

He addressed issues including the minimum wage; equal opportunities in work and education; and changing policies to encourage more women to join trade unions.

This portrait was commissioned Commission A formal request made to an artist to create an artwork. by the National Portrait Gallery in 2005, two years after Morris retired from the Transport and General Workers Union. The union’s headquarters building can be seen behind him, perhaps showing his pride and affection for the place and the work he did there.

Take a look at your table and review all the information you have collected about workers’ campaigns and movements.

If you were making a video about campaigns for workers’ rights, which two portraits would you include?

For example, you could choose:

• portraits that were created for different purposes
• portraits that give us insights into different points of view
• portraits that help us examine successes and failures.

The history of the struggle for workers’ rights extends beyond the period covered in this resource. You may wish to investigate earlier events such as the Swing Riots, the Luddites, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Merthyr Rising or the Peterloo Massacre. Or you may want to investigate more recent developments such as the Gate Gourmet dispute, 2011 public sector strikes Strike To refuse to work in order to improve pay or conditions. , and the Living Wage Foundation.