The continued industrial unrest in Ireland was carried by the newspaper, The Watchword of Labour, who in June 1920 reported on a host of disputes across the country.

  Agitating for better pay and working conditions, disputes included workers from a number of professions. In county Kildare stable workers at the Curragh demanded an increase in pay, as did the shop girls in Newbridge town. At the Kynoch factory in Arklow town the workers were again looking for an increase in wages, having been refused on a number of occasions. A host of Dublin workers, including those in the Gas Works also sought the same. It also included the cleaning women in the Freeman’s Journal offices. Amongst the most successful demands were achieved in New Ross, county Wexford where under the charge of the union organiser, O’Donaghue, a host of workers succeeded in getting wage increases. O’Donaghue, the newspaper commented, was ‘battering the gateways of Ross’, invoking the fighting spirit of the county in 1798. In other areas of the country, such as in Ennis, county Clare the demands were for the reduction in the working week; the grocers assistants in particular who then worked in excess of 47 hours a week.  

Source: The Watchword of Labour 1919-1920, 19.06.1920, page 4

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