Benn helps mark women's victory

Sep 11 2007 By Dale Williams, Birmingham Mail

TONY Benn is to be the main speaker at this year's Women Chainmakers' Festival.

The event returns for its third year at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley on Saturday.

Mr Benn, a former Cabinet minister, is the party's longest serving Labour MP.

He retired from the House of Commons in May, 2001, after 50 years service in Parliament, to "devote more time to politics".

The festival celebrates the pioneering work of the women chainmakers of Cradley Heath through drama, dance, poetry and performance.

It "flies the banner" for the historically important role of women within Britain's working and industrial heritage.

The 1910 Women Chainmakers' dispute was a significant moment in Labour history - when hundreds of pitifully paid women successfully prosecuted a dispute which laid the foundations for today's national minimum wage.

Roger McKenzie, TUC regional secretary said: "The Women Chainmakers' Festival is going from strength-to-strength and we are delighted to announce that Tony Benn has agreed to be our headline speaker."

Ian Walden, director of the museum, said: "We set up the event not only to celebrate the story of the women of Cradley Heath but to highlight the importance of Mary Macarthur and her work in establishing the minimum wage.

"We believe the 1912 strike had a significant effect on the way in which low paid workers were treated."