Causes of The 1913 Lockout

Dublin before the lockout•Dublin was full of unskilled workers lived in desperate

poverty. They got very low wages and live in terrible conditions.

•The death rate in Dublin was bad as Calcutta, and the city’s slums were amongst the worst in the world as disease spread throughout the tenements. Malnutrition was also a problem.

•The lack of manufacturing in Dublin meant that there was an unusually high number of unskilled workers in various jobs, mainly to do with the distribution and transporting goods. These jobs were very often ‘casual’.

Dublin Tenements •Housing conditions were deplorable. Overcrowding was a serious problem.

•Over 20,000 families lived in one-room dwellings. There were often more than ten families in town houses that were built for one family .

•There was little privacy. Facilities for cooking, cleaning, and washing were inadequate. Sanitary conditions were worse. Many tenement buildings shared one lavatory in a yard.

•Disease spread rapidly in this cramped overcrowded conditions.

What were they fighting for ?

The workers wanted • Better wages • Better living conditions