MY old man grew up not too far from Bow in London’s East End and the tale of the matchwomen’s strike at Bryant and May is one well known to many trade unionists in London. 

Their significance to the wider British labour movement has been downplayed over the years and the courage of these working class women deserves to be taught and celebrated as any other heroic struggle in our history. 

Just as we celebrate the political achievements of the first women getting the vote and political rights, we must also honour the bravery and leadership of these women who demanded rights and better treatment in the workplace. 

The labour movement’s struggle for political and industrial freedom are two sides of the same coin. 

The world was so different in 1888. We have undeniably seen huge advances in the people’s rights, living standards and expectations. 

We have a welfare state, an NHS, life expectancy has increased and we can see and speak to each other across the world with a few clicks of a smartphone from our pocket. Yet re-reading the accounts of that time are far too familiar to the modern world of work in Britain today.

The women working at Bryant and May were on starvation wages and would arrive at work ill and exhausted from the poverty they experienced.  

Yet today in Tory Britain we have 1.3 million foodbank parcels given just from the Trussell Trust alone.  

The biggest reason for needing a food parcel is low income. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation showed of the 14 million people who are in poverty, eight million of these are in working families. 

Almost a million people are on zero-hours contracts. Our teachers and teaching assistants are feeding children arriving to school without a meal in their belly.

Many of the women working at Bryant and May were young workers. Yet a 17-year-old worker today is only legally entitled to a measly £4.20 per hour and a 20-year-old could be on just £5.90 thanks to the age discrimination at the heart of our wage laws. 

We need a proper living wage for workers of all ages and this is why it is so important to us that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party is backing a minimum wage of at least £10 an hour for everyone.

The owners of Bryant and May owned country estates and the shareholders of the day made huge profits from the business. 

Today’s super-rich don’t know what to do with their money and some even plan to buy spacecraft. Meanwhile they sweat their workers on Earth and deny them the most dignity and respect at work.

One of the biggest reasons the matchwomen went on strike was health and safety. The white phosphorus used at the time was a lethal poison and exposure to it led to the rotting of jaw bones and was known as “phossy jaw.” 

One of the key demands was for the workers to have their lunch break away from white phosphorus, which the management resisted. The workers were viewed as disposable and literally worth less than those at the top of the company.

Yet today we still have all too many battles for the health and safety of our workers. In 2018 we have schools with exposure to asbestos putting the health and lives of school staff and pupils at risk. 

Our public-sector workers face violence at work. We have big online retailers whose warehouse injuries are so frequent and serious that an ambulance is never far away. 

Amazon’s site at Rugeley in the West Midlands needed 115 NHS ambulances to be called out over the three years alone.

A key lesson of this strike was self-organisation from the grassroots. 

Much has been made of the role of Annie Besant who helped raise awareness of the issues. The work of historian Dr Louise Raw has shown how it was ultimately the working women themselves who led the way. 

In fact, Besant’s advice at the time was not to strike but to urge a boycott. Again we see a similar urge to boycott from concerned members of the public when GMB highlights in the media scandalous employment practices. 

Yet the real solution then, as it is now, is to provide solidarity and support for those organising their own workplace so they can build power and make their demands. 

The matchwomen got organised, stuck together, benefited from community support, pursued their objectives and they won.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to know that many of the striking matchwomen were migrant workers with families from Ireland. As we know, Irish workers in Britain faced appalling discrimination 130 years ago. 

Similar to today, migrant workers are more likely to experience bullying, harassment, exploitation, more dangerous workplaces and lower pay. 

GMB is among many unions with a proud history of recruiting and organising migrant workers fighting for all members. 

The Union of Women Match Workers became part of GMB in 1920 and is part of our family. At GMB we have a new generation of fearless women organisers who are making a radical change with and for our members in tough conditions. 

Nadine Houghton is working with many BME women in south London who have been contracted out from the NHS to ISS to provide cleaning services along with members who are porters and security workers. 

In Yorkshire, Deanne Ferguson has held a spotlight to the conditions at the Asos warehouse in Barnsley. 

In Glasgow, Hazel Nolan has been working with members to achieve equal pay for the city council’s workforce. Nationally GMB is taking on Asda over equal pay so that workers in the stores are paid as well as those working in distribution. 

The Matchwomen’s Festival is so important to ensure that women’s roles in our history are properly understood and valued. The fearless women of Bow provide inspiration for all of us in the struggles facing us today. 

The striking match workers started a flame in 1888 that burns as bright 130 years later. We owe them so much. 

Tim Roache is general secretary of GMB.