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Trade unionists gather to commemorate cotton workers boycott of slavery
Birmingham’s striking bin workers and supporters bring waste sites to a standstill
TRADE unionists gathered in Manchester today to commemorate thousands of the city’s 19th century cotton industry workers who boycotted slavery in the United States.
Boycotting slavery in confederate states during the American civil war cost the workers dearly — 60 per cent of Lancashire’s cotton mills shut down.
In December 1862 they wrote to US president Abraham Lincoln informing him of their action, he replied the following January to thank them.
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