Match workers on strike

In Norway as in many other countries, 1889 was a year of strikes and other labour conflicts. The most famous conflict was the match workers' strike in Kristiania (Oslo). Here women and child workers went to strike for better wages and working conditions. The most important result of the strike was that it awakened the social conscience of the middle and upper classes. The prominent author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was among those who sided with the match workers and brought the public's attention to their horrible working conditions.