STRIKE MAP founders said today that they “make no apologies” for raising awareness of workers’ struggles following criticism from the Daily Mail.

The founders of a website which tracks the location of strikes in Britain said they were shocked to see today’s front page article accusing them of being part of a plot by union “barons” to create a “de facto general strike.”

Henry Fowler and Robert Poole created Strike Map with a launch article in the Morning Star two years ago.

The Daily Mail article criticised the Picket Loyalty Card Scheme, which offers members of the public the chance to win prizes in exchange for attending picket lines and posting a photograph of their visits on social media.

The newspaper, owned by Viscount Rothemere, said the scheme was “designed to artificially swell picket line numbers.”

Strike Map is backed by by multiple unions and union branches, including from rail union Aslef, the National Education Union and Unite.

In a statement, Mr Fowler and Mr Poole said: “We were shocked to see Strike Map presented as ‘union barons trying to foment a general strike’ on the front page of the Daily Mail.

“Rather than focus on the government ineptitude that has led to this strike wave, the Daily Mail instead attacks hard-working teachers, nurses and other key workers.”

Strike Map has mapped over 7,000 strikes and the data collected has been used by the Daily Mirror and the Financial Times, the pair said.

They said: “We make no apologies for raising awareness of the scale of industrial action taking place, nor for supporting workers in their struggle.

“This has been our aim since we first launched this project in the Morning Star two years ago.”

Labour MP and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has called Strike Map “one of the most important assets that we have in the movement now.

“If you want to express your solidarity and join a picket line, you go to Strike Map,” he said.

“That’s why Strike Map needs your support so it can develop and grow and work with our movement to ensure that we’re all that much stronger.”