Fact #47
August 13, 2026The First Recorded Workers’ Strike Happened in Ancient Egypt
More than 3,000 years ago, workers in ancient Egypt stopped working because their wages were late. During the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses III, the skilled craftsmen of Deir el-Medina—the community responsible for building and decorating royal tombs near the Valley of the Kings—were normally paid with food rations, especially grain. When those payments failed to arrive, the workers walked off the job and demanded what they were owed.
Mini Facts
1
The strike occurred during the reign of Ramesses III, in the 12th century BCE.
2
The workers were highly skilled artisans who worked on Egypt’s royal tombs at Thebes.
3
Instead of receiving modern money, the workers were owed grain rations as compensation.
4
The workers gathered at temples and refused to return to work until authorities addressed their missing payments.