Rosie Hackett
| Rosie Hackett | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Rosanna Hackett 25 July 1892 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 4 May 1976 (aged 83) Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | Messenger, printer, cooperative organiser |
Rosanna "Rosie" Hackett (1892–1976) was an Irish insurgent and trade union leader. She was a founder-member of the Irish Women Workers' Union, and supported strikers during the 1913 Dublin Lockout. She later became a member of the Irish Citizen Army and was involved in the 1916 Easter Rising. In the 1970s, the labour movement awarded Hackett a gold medal for decades of service, and in 2014 a Dublin city bridge was named in her memory.
Rosie Hackett was born into a working-class family in Dublin in 1892. According to the 1901 census, she was living with her widowed mother and five other family members in a tenement building on Bolton Street in the city centre; her father, John Hackett, was a barber. The available documents suggest that he died when she was still very young. Hackett joined the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) when it was established in 1909 by Jim Larkin, which marked the beginning of her lifelong activity in trade unionism. By 1911 she was living with her family in a cottage on Old Abbey Street, and her mother had remarried to Patrick Gray. That same year she co-founded the Irish Women Workers' Union (IWWU) with Delia Larkin. Hackett never married, and lived in Fairview with her brother Tommy until her death in 1976.
Rosie Hackett fought for many decades for the rights of workers. Through her affiliation and work with the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU), the Irish Women Worker's Union (IWWU) and the Irish Citizen Army, she helped carve out and secure modern day working conditions. Rosie's career began as a packer in a paper store, she then became a messenger for Jacob's biscuits. At that time the working conditions in the factory were poor. On 22 August 1911 Rosie helped organise the withdrawal of women's labour in Jacob's factory to support their male colleagues who were already on strike. With the women's help, the men secured better working conditions and a pay rise. Two weeks later, at the age of eighteen, Rosie co-founded the Irish Women Worker's Union (IWWU) with Delia Larkin. During the 1913 Lockout Rosie helped mobilise the Jacob's workers to come out in solidarity with other workers, they in turn were locked out by their own employers. This did not stop Rosie Hackett's work to help others, and she along with several of her IWWU colleagues set up soup-kitchens in Liberty Hall to help feed the strikers. However, in 1914 her Jacob's employers sacked her over her role in the Lockout.
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