Very few women were members of Trade Unions, so the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) was established in 1906 as a general trade union to help women workers. Kate McLean established a branch of the National Federation of Women Workers at a Kilbirnie thread mill in 1912 which helped the hundreds of women workers who joined the NFWW successfully obtain a pay rise. At their first annual meeting on 28 March 1913 the NFWW agreed to strike in support of non-union net workers to help them obtain a similar pay rise. Just days later the Kilbirnie networkers went on strike led by Kate McLean and so began a 22-week dispute which involved six Kilbirnie firms and 390 female workers. In total 50,700 workdays were lost.
On Wednesday 14th May the women strikers held a demonstration which was attended by around 3,000 people including representatives from fifteen different trades. They marched from Dean Road to Beith, headed by a Pipe Band. Arriving at the Public Park they were addressed by five Union leaders including Mr French of the Seamen’s and Firemen’s Union and Ben Shaw of the Scottish Horse and Motormen’s Union, after which the huge crowd marched back to Dean Park, Kilbirnie in an orderly fashion.
Also, in May a social meeting was held in the networks of James Allan, whose workers were on strike, to mark the departure of one of his young worker’s, Miss Orasson, who was emigrating to Canada with her family.
The women strikers were supported by their families, their community, churches, and both local and national trade unions. On 23 May 1913, a large crowd gathered opposite the William Knox Memorial Lamp to hear Mr George Barnes, M.P., who offered words of encouragement to the strikers along with the benefits of Trade Unionism.
On Saturday 31 May 1913 the workers of a further two networks went on strike, those of Messrs Robert Low, Sons & Co., and William Martin and Co. The few who had still been working at the firms of Messrs J & W Knox and Messrs John Watt & Co. also joined the strike on 01 and 02 June respectively.
The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald of 04 July 1913 reported that those who had originally come out on strike were awarded 7s & 6d strike pay from the fund of the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) and those who had recently come out on strike were awarded 5s strike pay.
The first firm to offer its workers a pay rise of 4d per net was John Watt & Sons, Ltd on 22 August 1913. On the following Monday a few workers returning to the other firms had to force their way past hostile picketers and several people were injured. Many could only enter their workplace with a police escort. An additional thirty constables were called in from different parts of the country to help restore order. The strike ended on Tuesday 02 September 1913. Ex-Baillie McKerrell of Kilmarnock met on behalf of the strikers with the five employers whose staff were still on strike in the Masonic Hall, Kilbirnie. These were Hugh Mackay, William Barr Knox, James Allan, Robert Low and William Martin. After protracted negotiations the strike ended with agreements for secure pay, union recognition and non-victimisation of strikers.