Skip to main content
Putting strikes on the map
With 7,000 strikes and counting, ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER, co-founders of Strike Map, look back on the last two years and forward to the year ahead

IT WAS the height of Covid, meeting for a coffee or a pint was forbidden, let alone holding mass rallies or meetings. The TV was full of statements about key workers but we saw a gap. 

Where was the link between the key workers in our schools, hospitals and supermarkets and the workers’ movement in this country? 

This is how we started. We decided we were going to remind people that it was only through struggle that we gain the rights we take for granted. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Thousands march to Trafalgar Square in central London, to ce
Features / 19 April 2025
19 April 2025
Five years ago, on May Day 2020, as the initial shockwaves of the pandemic rippled through our society, #RedForKeyWorkers launched. To mark International Workers’ Day this year, the need to honour and fight for those who keep our society running is more urgent than ever, write ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER
Features / 21 May 2022
21 May 2022
This week the Strike Map Team talk to a UCU striker from their picket line in north-west England
Features / 20 December 2021
20 December 2021
As 2021 draws to a close, Strike Map founders ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER reflect on a year of discontent, the victories and the challenges ahead
Features / 6 June 2021
6 June 2021
ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER introduce a new book club to help activists get organised and share ideas
Similar stories
© Henry Fowler, Strike Map
Workers' Rights / 9 May 2025
9 May 2025

Hundreds travel to Birmingham to join ‘mega picket’ of striking refuse workers and supporters

Strike Map activists visit striking refuse workers in Birmingham, April 29, 2025 [Pic: Strike Map]
Workers' Rights / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

As Birmingham’s refuse workers fight brutal pay cuts, Strike Map rallies mass solidarity, with unions, activists, and workers converging to defy scab labour and police intimidation. The message to Labour? Back workers or face rebellion, writes HENRY FOWLER and ROBERT POOLE

Thousands march to Trafalgar Square in central London, to ce
Features / 19 April 2025
19 April 2025
Five years ago, on May Day 2020, as the initial shockwaves of the pandemic rippled through our society, #RedForKeyWorkers launched. To mark International Workers’ Day this year, the need to honour and fight for those who keep our society running is more urgent than ever, write ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER
World / 30 August 2024
30 August 2024