Friday night at the Chainmakers



Stacey Blythe

 Tonight saw the eve of festival launch of the new Black Country Living Museum display depicting the harsh working conditions suffered by the women chainmakers of Cradley Heath. The display, introduced by Museum Director Andrew Lovett and financed by the TUC and affiliated trade unions, is located in the exhibition halls in the main building of the Museum.



The launch was followed by music in the Workers Institute and short speeches by Sylvia Heal, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, and TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon. The evening was rounded off by Stacey Blythe singing the Chainmakers song, which she will reprise at the festival on Saturday 18th September.


Sylvia Heal



TUC General Council Statement on the economy

The TUC General Council statement on the economy, public spending and public services is available on the TUC website at:
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-18456-f0.cfm

Music headliner announced for 2010 Women Chainmakers Festival

The Women Chainmakers festival is delighted to announce that The Unthankswill be headlining the music at the Centenary Women Chainmakersfestival to be held at The Black Country Living Museum on Saturday 18th September.


Not many bands can count Radiohead, Portishead, Elvis Costello, Robert Wyatt, Ben Folds, Ewan McGregor and Nick Hornby amongst their admirers, but The Unthanks occupy a unique place in music. Northumbria sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank are unsentimental young storytellers outside of time, forging links between folk worlds old, new and other. Staunch traditionalism and sonic adventure ought to be polar opposites, yet they are easy bedfellows in the gentle hands of The Unthanks; the British counterpart to the leftfield folk leanings of Sufjan Stevens, Bonnie Prince Billy, Tom Waits and Fleet Foxes, nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and present in The Best Albums of the Decade (worldwide, all genres) in The Guardian and Uncut. Described by Britain's leading music journalist Paul Morley as "absolutely exquisite", new album Here's The Tender Coming employs a kaleidoscope of unlikely instruments and arrangements.

"Haunting, original and magnificent" The Guardian

"an exquisite mixture of light and dark, instinct and artistry" Uncut
"once in a blue moon type of every now and again, you hear music that is so complete, so wonderful, unique and yet familiar that it stops you in your tracks. They have that blue moon magic about them, and they have it in spades" BBC Music
"Music as tough as it is gentle, as ancient as it is modern, and as coldly desolate as it is achingly intimate.. a sensationally graceful sound that can be epic and subdued, dreamy and specific, as well as supernaturally ancient and defiantly modern."
Paul Morley, Observer Music Magazine (Britain's leading music journalist)

RabbleRouser Music and The Unthanks
www.the-unthanks.com
www.myspace.com/rachelunthank
www.twitter.com/TheUnthanks
www.the-unthanks.com
www.myspace.com/rachelunthank


YOUTUBE LINKS


Later With Jools Holland, BBC2: Here's The Tender Coming and Lucky Gilchrist in one video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpFdXhiCPvI

Tony Benn to headline at Women Chainmakers festival

The pioneering work of a formidable group of Black Country women will be honoured at the Women Chainmakers' Festival held at the Black Country Living Museum on Saturday September 18, 2010. The event celebrates the 1910 Women Chainmakers strike –100 years after the women, led by Mary Macarthur, marched for better pay and shaped industrial relations in Britain. The main speaker at the TUC organised event will be former cabinet minister Tony Benn.

Benn, who is the longest-serving Labour MP in the history of the party, retired from the House of Commons in 2001 after 50 years in Parliament to ‘devote more time to politics’.

He said:"The Chainmakers' dispute, 100 years ago this year, was a classic trade union battle led by women who inspired the whole trade union movement. This year we will be remembering that battle and honouring those who fought it."
Cheryl Pigeon, TUC Regional Secretary said: “The Chainmakers struggle for a minimum wage marked a turning point in the campaign for better pay for women workers. The lessons from the Chainmakers are still with us today in campaigns to improve pay and working conditions for all workers.”


In 1910 the Women Chainmakers of Cradley Heath won a fight to establish the right to a fair wage following a bitter 10 week dispute. This landmark victory changed the lives of thousands of workers who were earning starvation wages. The employers and unions agreed to a minimum wage of two-and-a-half pence an hour - an amount which equaled a 150 percent pay increase for the poorest of workers

Andrew Lovett, Director and Chief Executive of the Black Country Living Museum commented: “It has been said that the Cradley Heath Workers’ Institute – now part of the Black Country Living Museum – is the last physical reminder of the Women Chainmakers Strike of 1910. That maybe so – but the more important legacy is the fairer treatment of working people and the development of a more respectful and tolerant society – one that isn’t built on a kind of semi-slavery of others.”

The story of Mary Macarthur and the Women Chainmakers will be brought to life through stirring speeches, historic re-enactments, theatre and music. The highlight of the day will be a re-creation of the strike march when the women walk to victory once more!

Right to request training will enable workers to improve their skills

Commenting on the Skills for Sustainable Growth consultation, launched today (Thursday) by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said:
“Ten million workers received no training last year so the Government must use every possible lever to encourage more employers to offer staff training.
“The consultation rightly focuses on the needs of learners in delivering training. The Government can achieve this by honouring the right to request time off for training, which gives workers the flexibility they need to improve their skills.
“We welcome the recognition that unions can play a key role – particularly through our network of 25,000 learning reps – in encouraging employers and workers to take up training.
“But while no one disputes the economic imperative for a better skilled workforce, modern research facilities, apprenticeship schemes and employer incentives to train their staff require investment as well as good will.
“It’s therefore vital the Government’s commitment to skills is not undermined by self-defeating budget cuts.”

Mikron Theatre returns to the Midlands

The excellent Mikron Theatre returns to the Midlands with their play "Striking the Balance" from Thursday 29th July.They return with a performance at The Waterman Canalside Pub & Restaurant, Birmingham Road, Hatton, Warwick, CV35 7JJ, starting at 7.30pm.

The performance will be held in The Waterman gardens, overlooking the famous stairway to heaven flight of locks on the Grand Union. Bring your own blankets and chairs!
Further tour dates in the midlands are available from the Mikron website: http://www.mikron.org.uk/tourDates.php

Lincoln and District TUC look to the future

Lincoln and District TUC delegates met last night (Thursday) to discuss plans for future campaigning work across the City.
The Trades Council heard from TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon who outlined the campaigning opportunities for the trades council, recognising that the future looked bleak for many public servants - and the people who relied on them. Cheryl emphasised that it was not just public sector workers who are going to suffer, the communities we live in will be hit and private sector jobs will also be lost as public sector contracts disappear.
Cheryl congratulated the trades council on their work over the past year, organising against the BNP, fundraising for striking Royal Mail workers, protecting elderly care homes and organising Lincoln's first May Day celebration for 20 years.
Delegates discussed plans for future campaigns against public sector cuts and how they can use these campigns to grow the trades council and recruit new trade union members.