Page "Strike action" Paragraph 4

The strike tactic has a very long history.

Towards the end of the 20th dynasty, under Pharaoh Ramses III in ancient Egypt on 14 November 1152 BC, the artisans of the Royal Necropolis at Deir el-Medina organized the first known strike or workers ' uprising in recorded history.

The event was reported in detail on a papyrus at the time, which has been preserved, and is currently located in Turin.

The strike is narrated by John Romer in Ancient Lives: The story of the Pharaohs ' Tombmakers The strike so terrified the Egyptian authorities, as such rebellion was virtually unheard of, that they gave in and raised their wages.