Nottinghamshire was the home of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM), whose members continued to work after splitting from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), arguing the strike had not been approved in a vote. I still hate Thatcher - Miners Strike - Irish - Poll Tax Riot - Skargill - Welsh - Working Class Pre Poster. However, an economic slump beginning in 1920 and the return of the mines to . But, for now, a large majority of its 1,995 miners went on strike. AudioDrift off to sleep with Michael Mosley, Vicious gangsterism in 1980s Glasgow. "Even now people ignore me if I say hello," says Yvonne Woodhead, 35 years since her husband decided to join miners across the UK in going on strike. Share page. Mrs Howells went to work in a factory and now spends much of her time organising community events for the elderly women of Ollerton after the closure of the village's miners' welfare club left them with nowhere to meet and socialise. "I found him and said: 'You're coming with me, or you can go up that lane and get yourself killed.'. The nationwide strike was a last attempt by the mining unions to save the industry after the National Coal Board announced 20 pits in England would have to close with the loss of 20,000 jobs. 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To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here. Miners' Strike timeline. Read about our approach to external linking. [15] The non-union lorry driver had mounted the pavement to pass the picket line and struck Matthews in the process. [10], The Chair of the NCB, former Labour MP Alf Robens, proposed to resolve the dispute by conceding the wage claim of 27 shillings and 6 pence (1.375) per week. [21] Lord Wilberforce defended the increases, which represented a 27% pay rise,[22] by saying that "we know of no other job in which there is such a combination of danger, health hazard, discomfort in working conditions, social inconvenience and community isolation. **** To Nicholas Ridley's prescription, Thatcher had added the appointment of Peter Walker as energy secretary. Against 238,865. A film to mark the 35th anniversary of the end of the Miners' Strike is using new interviews with . The economic downturn that defined the first decade of the new millennium was relayed by a Western media eager to mobilise the boom and bust, recession and unemployment discourses of the 1970s and 80s, making the politics of the recent past a more immediate, relatable and felt presence. Competition from cheap oil imports arrived in the late 1950s and the coal industry began to suffer from increasing losses. Thatcher developed the government policy of defeating the industrial action. [20] The role of the volunteers was to drive in convoys to break the picketlines blocking the supply of coal to the Scottish power plants. [1], On 11 October, Arthur Scargill led a group of Yorkshire mineworkers in pushing for action at the Yorkshire NUM's area council. [2], At the time of the strike, wage negotiations were underway between the NCB and the National Union of Mineworkers. "Industrial relations, historical contingencies and political economy: Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. Image caption, . Revisiting the past and rethinking our approach to historical events can, she suggested, enlighten us in the present. The Miners Strikes in the 1970s and early She immediately jumped in the car to stop her husband David crossing the picket line, fearing for his life. The UK miners strike of 1984-5 was a defining moment in the history of the United Kingdom, one that not only illuminates the countrys near-history, but functions as a prism through which to understand the social, political and economic challenges of the twenty-first century. "We were used to having food on the table, clean and tidy houses and the kids well-clothed, but we hit rock bottom," she says. [3][6] In his study of the Yorkshire NUM, Andrew Taylor gives five reasons why the Yorkshire area aligned itself with the militant areas of Kent, Scotland and South Wales during the 1960s: The action led to discussions on the NUM's threshold of a two-thirds majority for a national strike. When another miners' strike began in 1974, Mr Heath called a snap general election hoping to rally public support against the miners. The majority for a strike is therefore 71.75% of the 845,647 votes recorded; the total membership of the Miners' Confederation of Great Britain is 904,000 and the unrecorded votes amounted to 6%. Miners' strike, 1984-85. Even The Times forebodingly warned in June 1985 that the dispute some politicians hoped would break the power of the NUM has actually created new cadres for the future. The catalyst for the strike was the announcement by the . The strike began on 9 January 1972 and ended on 28 February 1972, when the miners returned to work. The 6 March 1984-3 March 1985, miners' strike was a major industrial action to shut down the British coal industry in an attempt to prevent colliery closures. Since the turn of the millennium, the Thatcher years have become a particularly popular period to reappraise as a result of the global credit crunch. ", Two miners from opposite sides meet for the first time since the strike. The miners' strike of 1984-1985 was a major industrial action which saw the British coal industry shut down. Margaret Thatcher and her impact on north-east England. In other areas it was much better supported - for example in south Wales, 99.6% of the 21,500 workers joined the action and, a year on, 93% were still not working. Miners' and General Strikes. As predicted by economists, this led to deflation and rising unemployment. Nottinghamshire was the home of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM), whose members continued to work after splitting from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), arguing the strike had not been approved in a vote. In 1984, 20 pits were to close, with 20,000 jobs to go- but more were to be announced. The miners' strike that ended an era Adam Smith Institute. 1974: Miners' strike comes to an end. A timeline chronology of the UK Miners' Strike 1984 - 1985 including the background to the strike and the main events of the conflict. During his ten-year tenure, productivity increased by 70%, but with far fewer pits and a much reduced workforce. VideoRoad Rage: Cars Vs Bikes, Drift off to sleep with Michael Mosley. $27.08. [23], National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers, "National Coal Board (Losses) (Hansard, 5 December 1960)", "COAL INDUSTRY BILL (Hansard, 3 December 1970)", "John Charlton: The Miners Since Nationalisation (March 1973)", "Re-examining the Battle of Saltley Gate: interpretations of leadership, violence and legacy", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UK_miners%27_strike_(1972)&oldid=1097622083, National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain), January 1972 events in the United Kingdom, February 1972 events in the United Kingdom, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Ackers, Peter, and Jonathan Payne. Local resident Sue Howells, 64, found out about the death on the television news. The strike was called by the National Executive Committee of the NUM and ended when the miners accepted an improved pay offer in a ballot. In other areas it was much better supported - for example in south Wales, 99.6% of the 21,500 workers joined the action and, a year on, 93% were still not working. A short account of the national coal miners' dispute in the winter of 1973-4 which led to the three-day week, the collapse of the Conservative government and a 35% pay increase for the miners. There are many themes relevant to Stories of Extraction in this news that former coal workers, now staff at the National Coal Mining Museum, are on strike. The miners struck for four weeks, and the East End docks were brought to a halt for two months. She immediately jumped in the car to stop her husband David crossing the picket line, fearing for his life. By dru1138. In Nottinghamshire, a ballot was held and miners voted to carry on working. For the previous two days, some one million coal miners had been locked out of their mines after a dispute with the . Is it right to raise interest rates in a recession? During the strike coal production dropped by more than half but the government had stockpiled in preparation and, with supplies coming from the still-working pits in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, power stations were able to stay open. Share. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 20,000 jobs The catalyst for the strike was the announcement by the National Coal Board (NCB) on 6th March 1984 that it intended to cut national capacity by 4 million tonnes and close 20 pits with the loss of 20,000 jobs. Read about our approach to external linking. England: Died: 17 July 2005 (aged 89) Salisbury, England: Resting . An additional law passed by the Conservative government as part of their strategy for handling a strike was the 1980 Employment . She now represents Rainworth South and Blidworth as a Labour councillor and believes the pit closures show they were right to strike. "We sat for hours talking about it when we got home, but I'd rather have him at home with me than six feet under, so we had to do what we had to do.". Almost a year after it had started, the strike was over. The defeated miners returned to work and the pit closures would go ahead. [6], The clashes were later highlighted as a foreboding of the aggressive picketing during the 1984-5 strike. In the ensuing public sector strikes, Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis declared that his members would not be starved back like the miners, while striking teachers caused government ministers to warn police that their handling of the strikes should reflect the fact that this isnt the miners strike. She gets help from the wives of men who went on strike from the beginning of the dispute and says that although she does not hold it against them, they do not talk about it. $28.90. Between March 1984 and March 1985, more than half the country's 187,000 miners left work in what was the biggest industrial dispute in post-war Britain. "Before the storm: The experience of nationalization and the prospects for industrial relations partnership in the British coal industry, 1947-1972-rethinking the militant narrative. Perhaps the most impactful of all were Heath's tangles with the miners union, who went on strike once in 1972, and then again in 1974. Following some confrontations with NUM pickets, the National Coal Board adopted a policy of giving leave on full pay to any members of NACODS who faced aggressive intimidation on the way to work. In this montage (featuring the Clash's 1979 song "London Calling"), we see the police raid on Billy's town during the 1984 miner's strike, in which coal miners fought against low wages, poor working conditions, and rising . The Workers Monthly - October 1926 Poster. The nationwide strike was a last attempt by the mining unions to save the industry after the National Coal Board announced 20 pits in England would have to close with the loss of 20,000 jobs. Today fewer and fewer remember March 1984 - and many that do might wish to forget it - but the tensions the strike created are often only just below the surface. Published. Dodworth has been luckier than most. "I didn't know them from Adam; it was frightening. Mrs Howells went to work in a factory and now spends much of her time organising community events for the elderly women of Ollerton after the closure of the village's miners' welfare club left them with nowhere to meet and socialise. In 1960, according to one study, "miners, of whom there were still half a million in 1960, enjoyed historically unprecedented standards of living. The railwaymen and transport workers felt that the miners had not tried hard enough to negotiate. RM R6GMNB - Kiveton Park Colliery, South Yourshire, England. The UK coalminers' dispute, 1973-4. Just under the surface of recent events, 1984-5 is with us still. Most of the U.K.'s energy at the time was produced by coal . Pit closures in Yorkshire had been rare before the mid-1960s. Together these three unions formed the Triple Alliance. The government announced on 6 March 1984 that 20 collieries would close, meaning that many mining . [17] The offer came after the Battle of Saltley Gate, when around 2,000 NUM pickets descended on a coke works in Birmingham and were later joined by thousands of workers from other industries in Birmingham. The defeated miners returned to work and the pit closures would go ahead. UK miners' strike (1972) UK miners' strike (1974), during the Three-Day Week. [18], The result was characterised as a "victory for violence" by the Conservative Cabinet at the time, in reference to some clashes between miners and police and to some throwing of stones and bottles at lorries trying to pass the pickets. People made up their minds in the first month of the strike and stuck to it.". Enter Rocker, who had spent years trying to entice the Jewish garment workers of . "Some people haven't spoken to each other since it started," she says. "The people in the crowd were throwing bricks, they were carrying all sorts of things - they came for business," she says. Almost a year after it had started, the strike was over. Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (1096185) and Scotland (SC048601). It came about because of disagreements between the miners and the Government over pay; throughout Britain's industry there was a widespread hostility to the Tories' offers of pay. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. No need to register, buy now! The country's last deep coal mine, Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire, shut in 2015. "THE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE MINERS', THE UNION OF DEMOCRATIC MINEWORKERS AND THE 1984-85 MINERS STRIKE: SCABS OR SCAPEGOATS? During the 1960s, however, their pay fell behind other workers, and by 1970 miners were earning 3.1% less than the average worker in manufacturing. The strike occurred because wage negotiations between the NUM and the National Coal Board of the United Kingdom had broken down. [12], The strike was characterised by the miners sending flying pickets to other industrial sites to persuade other workers to strike in solidarity, which led to railway workers' refusing to transport coal and power station workers' refusing to handle coal. Miners' Strike by Margaret Varis, c.1985, from National Coal Mining Museum for England [Skip to content] . Of course, there was the miners' strike . "In Ollerton, there's them that talk to each other and them that don't," she says. [1] The president of the Yorkshire NUM, Sam Bullogh, was unwell at the time and ruled Scargill "out of order". [3] In the 1960s, employment in coal mining had fallen by almost 400,000 with little resistance from the NUM leadership, but the left wing of the union was becoming stronger and drawing strength from the students' protests. The Times declared the strike: "The greatest catastrophe that has threatened the country since the Spanish Armada". The Miners' Strike is a photo book by photographers Mark Harvey, Martin Jenkinson, Mark Metcalf on Englan strike in 1984-85, published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd, Barnsley, England, 2014 The 2014 film, which tells the real life tale of gay activists in London who decided to fundraise for striking miners in south Wales, is one of a number of . The UK miners' strike of 1984-5 was a defining moment in the history of the United Kingdom, one that not only illuminates the country's near-history, but functions as a prism through which to . Although she says she never resented anyone for not striking, when people treated her differently she thought: "You can get stuffed - you know something ducky, my husband is fighting for such as you. [19], A volunteer force was planned in Scotland to break the miners' pickets during the strike. [20], An inquiry into miners' pay, chaired by Lord Wilberforce, was set up by the government in February 1972, as the strike was drawing to a close. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point. He had worked underground as a miner at Silverwood Colliery, Rotherham . 679215 Registered office: 1 London . [1] Wages were lower, and working hours were longer for surface work than for underground work. [1] In 1960 Alf Robens became the chairman of the National Coal Board (NCB), and he introduced a policy concentrating on the most productive pits. Mr Scargill was the notorious ex-union boss who led the miners' strike in the '80s. The miners' strike of 1984-1985 was a major industrial action within the British coal industry in an attempt to prevent colliery closures. "We were used to having food on the table, clean and tidy houses and the kids well-clothed, but we hit rock bottom," she says. [16] In the aftermath of the death, the picketing in the Doncaster area became more violent, with clashes reported with the NACODS members at Markham Main and Kilnhurst. Submitted by Steven. Mrs Howells says people who she had known for years then started ignoring her in the street, while some were shopping 12 miles from home to avoid meeting someone from the "wrong side" in the supermarket aisles. A widespread workers' consciousness formed in the UK from the peak of the Chartist movement in the 1830s, leading to a wave of strikes . Mortgage calculator: How much could you pay? On 3rd May 1926, a General Strike was called by the Trade Union Congress . Minutes of a meeting in 1985 show Leon Brittan then . [12] The Yorkshire Area of the NUM recommended that the offer be rejected, but Yorkshire mineworkers voted to accept by 37,597 (72.3%) to 14,373 (27.6%). VideoVicious gangsterism in 1980s Glasgow. "[21] Mine workers held out for an extra 1 per week, but eventually settled for a package of "fringe benefits" worth a total of 10 million. [10], During a parliamentary debate on the strike in its second week, both Labour and Conservative MPs praised the miners for the forbearance shown during the mass pit closures in the 1960s. When she handed them back washed and cleaned, she says some of the wives of those who were still working threw them in the bin. Thirty years ago today, miners at Cortonwood colliery in Yorkshire walked out in protest at plans to close their pit.Sign up for Snowmail, your daily preview. Her forthcoming monograph Crunch Lit examines fictional responses to the global credit crunch. "The people in the crowd were throwing bricks, they were carrying all sorts of things - they came for business," she says. The strike began on 9 January 1972 and ended on 28 February 1972, when the miners returned . [20] They were to have between 400 and 600 trucks and drivers. The year 2000 saw a familiar irony actualised, as the Port of Tyne authority began importing coal to Newcastle. "[16] He threatened to "advocate violence" if an immediate government statement were not made on Matthews's death. Theirs will be the standard by which all struggles are measured . Despite this restructuring of the national industrial core, the mining industry and its proud heritage of protest did not fade into the recesses of memory. Mrs Woodhead and her family gave up "luxuries" like television and heating because they couldn't afford them, and relied on donations from solidarity movements in the USSR and Poland for Christmas presents for their children that year. People made up their minds in the first month of the strike and stuck to it.". Read about our approach to external linking. Many miners suspect the South Yorkshire police operation at Orgreave in June 1984 was a trap, pre-planned for confrontation, co-ordinated for the courts. . In his own study of the strike, The Enemy Within, Seamus Milne suggests that the 1984-5 miners strike is an episode which demands a revisionist reassessment, not least due to the evidence which emerged after the dispute suggesting that alternative accounts of the conflict were not wholly driven by in-built bias or the bitterness of defeat. [20] The plans were never put into place because the dispute was brought to a close. Published. VideoUK using migrants as scapegoats - Albanian PM in full. The failure of the 1984-85 miners' strike helped revive the British economy, but had major implications for the future of labor unions and coal mining in Britain. [13], Power shortages emerged, and a state of emergency was declared on 9 February, after the weather had turned cold unexpectedly and voltage had been reduced across the entire national grid. Striking miners lined the streets leading to pits in an attempt to stop their colleagues from going to work and, as tensions rose, a 24-year-old picket from Wakefield, David Jones, died hours after being hit by a brick in the Nottinghamshire town of Ollerton. Mrz 1984 bis 5. . "Even now people ignore me if I say hello," says Yvonne Woodhead, 35 years since her husband decided to join miners across the UK in going on strike. Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), called on the miners to strike, and on 12 March a strike started which was to last for nearly a year. ", Phillips, Jim. The miners' strike of 1984-1985 was one of the most bitter industrial disputes Britain has ever seen. But in Nottinghamshire, the majority of miners chose to carry on working, leaving whole towns and villages divided between strikers and "scabs" - those who crossed the picket line. As remaining mines continued to close, national demand for fuel was increasingly met by foreign miners in distant coalfields. In her resignation speech, she claimed that one of her greatest achievements in office had been defeating the strikers. Local resident Sue Howells, 64, found out about the death on the television news. [2] In 1956, 700,000 men produced 207million tons of coal; by 1971, fewer than 290,000 workers were producing 133million tons at 292 collieries. Stalwarts of the Durham Miners' Association, whose politics were forged in the 1980s strikes, fear the party could suffer the same fate in north-east England as it has in Scotland. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UK_miners%27_strike_(1969)&oldid=1083666932, National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain), October 1969 events in the United Kingdom, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. THE COAL MINERS. The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. Only a quarter of the county's miners joined the national strike, according to the National Coal Mining Museum. Correspondence address: PO Box 74955, London E16 9EJ | company registered in England & Wales, number . The offer is worth more than double the figure . "I didn't know them from Adam; it was frightening. Miners' conditions improved during World War I and the immediate postwar period, when the mines were taken under government control and the demand for coal was high. The official figures of the Miners' ballot are: For a strike 606,782. Scargill went on to play a key role in the 1972 strike, especially through organisation of the Battle of Saltley Gate and to lead the union through the UK miners' strike (1984-85). Find the perfect coal miner strike england stock photo. Video, UK using migrants as scapegoats - Albanian PM in full, Drift off to sleep with Michael Mosley. 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. [12] The package was accepted by 237,462 votes to 41,322. The NUM members put on a brave face, many marching back . Video, How do you solve a problem like cement? "In Ollerton, there's them that talk to each other and them that don't," she says. In the strikes of the new millennium, the language and politics of 1984-5 was resurrected to narrate the fire-fighters, postal and baggage handlers disputes of 2003, with the insult of Scargillism liberally applied to discredit union leaders. The arrival of the lorries was therefore among those moments in a day when adrenaline would rush, as fear, anger and resentment built to a climax with speeding lorries . Even Margaret Thatcher was finally forced to concede that the post-strike review procedure did not save a single coal mine. US midterms: Will Gen Z vote? The UK miners' strike of 1969 was an unofficial strike that involved 140 of the 307 collieries owned by the National Coal Board, including all collieries in the Yorkshire area. Read about our approach to external linking. At the first post-strike NUM conference on 1 July 1985, Scargill used his Presidential address to communicate an important message to his miner members: you have written history. Energiemangel in England herrschte. In 1972 and 1974, strikes shut down every coal mine in Britain, and a combination of solidarity strikes by the steel and railway unions and targeted picketing of coking works, ports and industrial sites brought the country to a standstill. [3] Although that was not the cause of the dispute, it became essential to the settlement of the dispute. Mrs Howells says people who she had known for years then started ignoring her in the street, while some were shopping 12 miles from home to avoid meeting someone from the "wrong side" in the supermarket aisles. You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER . [1] The annual conference of the NUM had voted in July 1968 to demand the surface workers' hours be lowered to seven and three-quarters, but the union's executive had not acted upon the vote.