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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2013 :: RMTnews 14 SOLIDARITY: RMT national secretary Steve Todd (front right) and assistant general secretary Steve Hedley (front left) see off the SS Hare from Liverpool T rade unionists on both sides of the Irish Sea marked the 100th anniversary of the first food shipment from the British TUC to support striking workers and their families during the 1913 Lockout. A re-enactment of the voyage of the first solidarity food ship SS Hare was organised as part of the anniversary which left Liverpool and was met when it arrived at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin on October 5 by a welcoming committee. The Lockout began in August 1913 after tramway drivers and conductors, members of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, went on strike for better pay and conditions. In response, the Chairman of the Dublin United Tramway Company and President of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, William Martin Murphy, persuaded 400 employers to lock out members of the ITGWU, as well as any other employees who refused to disassociate themselves from Jim Larkin's union. Thousands of Dublin workers who were members of the ITGWU, were suspected of being members or were members of other unions and would not sign declarations disowning the ITGWU were locked out and replaced by strike breakers. Eventually over 25,000 workers were involved in strikes and lockouts. The effects of the Lockout bore heavily on thousands of families in the city, who faced poverty and starvation. The food aid contributed by workers and their unions across Britain, worth £25 million in today’s money, delivered vital sustenance and hope to those affected by the lockout. The commemoration of the anniversary of the first food ship arrival to Dublin acknowledges the critical importance of the solidarity and practical support of the British trade union movement towards supporting struggling families to survive one hundred years ago. The organisers gratefully acknowledged the support received for the SS Hare re- enactment from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Dublin Port Company, the International Transport Workers’ Federation, Ramsey Steam Ship Company, RMT, SIPTU and Unite. REMEMBERING THE 1913 DUBLIN LOCK-OUT