London Women Transport Workers Strike (1918)

Fri Aug 16, 1918

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Image: Some of the strikers in August, 1918 [libcom.org]

On this day in 1918, a meeting of women at Willesden bus garage decided to go on strike without informing their bosses or unions, beginning the London Women Transport Workers’ Strike, in which they demanded equal pay for equal work.

In August 1918, female tram conductors in Willesden, London started a wildcat strike which quickly spread around the country and to other sectors of public transport. Earlier that year, male workers were given a 5 shilling per week wartime bonus to help cope with the increased cost of living, but women workers were not.

On August 16th, 1918, a meeting of women at Willesden bus garage decided to go on strike the following day, without informing their bosses or unions. Initially demanding the same war bonus that had been given to men, their demands morphed into equal pay, more than forty years before the Equal Pay Act. The slogan of the strike was “Same Work - Same Pay”.

The strike spread throughout the city - an estimated 18,000 out of a total 27,000 women working in the public transport industry participated.

The strike was settled on the 25th of August. The women won the 5 shilling war bonus, but not equal pay. According to historian Dr. Cathy Hunt, this labor action was “an important step along the way to full gender equality”.