02 September 2013
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New stamps mark centenary of 2013 General Lockout
An Post has marked the centenary of the General Lockout dispute with a set of commemorative stamps featuring archive photographs. ...
An Post has marked the centenary of the General Lockout dispute with a set of commemorative stamps (designed by Ger Garland) featuring archive photographs. The 1913 Lockout was a major industrial dispute in Ireland which marked a turning point in relations between employers and their employees. The Lockout, which lasted from August 2013 to January 2014, involved unskilled workers who wanted the right to join a trade union pitted against employers who saw the unions as a threat.
As a result of the dispute, around 20,000 workers who chose to join a union were 'locked out' of their work and bitterly protested against the 'black leg' workers brought in to take their place. The majority of those locked out were forced to return to their jobs after months of poverty, and whilst it initally seemed that the employers had won, the strength of the unions was to grow in the coming decades.
The stamp set was launched on 29 August 2013 Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte TD, the General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions David Begg, the President of SIPTU, Jack O’Connor, and others, met at Dublin’s GPO to review material used in the final design of the 1913 commemorative stamps.
The stamps feature photographs from the ‘Darkest Dublin’ photographic collection, James Connolly, is seen with the original ITGWU Head Quarters building in the background; Constance Markiewicz against a photograph of children outside tenement buildings in Chancery Lane (now Bride Street) and Jim Larkin against a photograph of the Bloody Sunday Riot which took place in O’Connell Street just outside the GPO.
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David Begg, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said: 'An Post’s stamps rightly recognise the key role played by Jim Larkin, James Connolly and Countess Markievicz in the events of the 1913 Lockout. They also capture pictorially the difficult day-to-day experiences of ordinary workers and their families at that time and their heroic determination to achieve decent treatment and fairness at work and, ultimately, radical social change and advancement. Critical to events of one hundred years ago was the right of workers to organise and to collectively bargain – an issue that has yet to be resolved, along with the timeless pursuit of decent work.'
To purchase the stamps, visit the An Post website.
For all the latest stamp and coin news and new issues, see each issue of Stamp & Coin Mart magazine.
As a result of the dispute, around 20,000 workers who chose to join a union were 'locked out' of their work and bitterly protested against the 'black leg' workers brought in to take their place. The majority of those locked out were forced to return to their jobs after months of poverty, and whilst it initally seemed that the employers had won, the strength of the unions was to grow in the coming decades.
The stamp set was launched on 29 August 2013 Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte TD, the General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions David Begg, the President of SIPTU, Jack O’Connor, and others, met at Dublin’s GPO to review material used in the final design of the 1913 commemorative stamps.
The stamps feature photographs from the ‘Darkest Dublin’ photographic collection, James Connolly, is seen with the original ITGWU Head Quarters building in the background; Constance Markiewicz against a photograph of children outside tenement buildings in Chancery Lane (now Bride Street) and Jim Larkin against a photograph of the Bloody Sunday Riot which took place in O’Connell Street just outside the GPO.
David Begg, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said: 'An Post’s stamps rightly recognise the key role played by Jim Larkin, James Connolly and Countess Markievicz in the events of the 1913 Lockout. They also capture pictorially the difficult day-to-day experiences of ordinary workers and their families at that time and their heroic determination to achieve decent treatment and fairness at work and, ultimately, radical social change and advancement. Critical to events of one hundred years ago was the right of workers to organise and to collectively bargain – an issue that has yet to be resolved, along with the timeless pursuit of decent work.'
To purchase the stamps, visit the An Post website.
For all the latest stamp and coin news and new issues, see each issue of Stamp & Coin Mart magazine.
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