1 Change and Challenge in the workplace 1951-1979 Flashcards
1
Q
Full Employment
unemployment?
low
A
- above 2% only 8 of the years between 1948-1970
2
Q
Full Employment
How did this low unemployment help industrial relations?
A
- employers had to keep their workers at their jobs with higher wages and better working conditions
- along with cheap canteen facilities, sports and social clubs, subsidised work outings and social functions
3
Q
Full Employment
where was this attitude towards work particular? example?
A
- in cities where industries were based particularly
- Eg. Textiles industry in Nottingham
4
Q
employment opportunities
Previously, children followed their parents into work. How did expectations rise for the next generation?
A
- more white collar and technological jobs in electronics
- light engineering and the provision of consumer goods and managers
5
Q
employment opportunities
White collar jobs and satisfaction
A
- higher in white collar jobs than industrial jobs
- there was also a growth in the service sector (tourism)
6
Q
work in factories
car industry 1956
A
500,000 people directly employed in the production of componetns or cars
7
Q
work in factories
drawbacks for factory jobs
A
- very repetitive
- as automation developed, it worsened
8
Q
work in factories
however, pay??
1951, 1961, 1971
A
- £8.30 per week in 1951
- £15.35 1961
- £30.93 1971
9
Q
work in factories
weekly wages vs retail prices
A
weekly wage rates went up by 88%
- retail prices rose by 63% between 1955-1969
- the cost of consumer items such as TV sets fell
10
Q
growth of unemployment in the 1970s
:(((
Unemployment in 1972
where was it worst?
A
- 1m
- ideas about job security faded
- industrial parts of Britain such as the north, south wales, the midlands, and scotland were worst effected.
11
Q
growth of unemployment in the 1970s
West Midlands specifically: which industry? what effect did this have?
A
- motor vehicle and related components
- the whole area was effected if there was a problem
- Eg. Downturn in car producing factories led to short time working in headlight manufacture
12
Q
growth of unemployment in the 1970s
1976 What did Labour accept?
A
- full emolkoyment wasnt possible
- market forces would have a greater role in deciding who worked
13
Q
Industrial relations 1951-1964
union membership 1950 then 1970
A
- 1950: 9,289
- 1970: 11,179
14
Q
Industrial relations 1951-1964
TUC general secretaries and their difference from union members
A
- Vic Feather and Len Murray
- affluent and comfortable lives
- not influenced by post-war materialism like younger union members
15
Q
Industrial relations 1951-1964
what was the role of the stewards?
A
- seen as having more in common with union members
- unpaid shop stewards
- they often called strikes and staged walkouts without approval of the TUC, which they didnt have the right to do
- caused conflicting unions
16
Q
Industrial relations 1951-1964
what was the role of consumerism?
A
- working class men and women wanted pay rises to participate
- decline in deference meant they were willing to ask less politely
17
Q
Industrial relations 1951-1964
Unions and strike action: how were unions organised? how did they call strikes?
A
- they had elected leaders, constitutions, and voting on important issues
- strikes were meant to only take place after a national ballot agreed, but there was no legislation to guarantee this.
- the number of unofficial strikes rose in the mid-1960s
- often dispiutes were caused between different unions
18
Q
deterioration in relations
1955-1964 number of strikes per year involving how many workers?
A
- 2,521 a year
- 1.1m workers
- over double the decades before
19
Q
deterioration in relations
what was the growing perception of the unions?
A
- union workers were lazy, obstructive, and too powerful
- resentment from the middle class
20
Q
Im Alright Jack
what was it about? what did its popularity suggest
A
- successful movie of 1959
- watched by the Queen and PM Harold Macmillan
- portrayed a union shop steward as an incompetent bully, forcing the factories to go on strike over petty issues.
- popularity suggests people were tired of industrial action
21
Q
Industrial relations 1964-1979
Wilsons image and the unions
A
- beer drinking pipe smoking
- consciously designed to project an image that would be popular to the unions
- though by the end of the decade he was proposing legislation that would curtail union power more so than any past Labour PM
22
Q
wildcat strikes
what were they? why was wilson reluctant?
A
- strikes not officially sanctioned by the unions or the TUC
- stewards seen as napolenic figures
- labour reluctant because of their shared history with the unions
23
Q
wildcat strikes
late 1960s % of strike acton that was unofficial, working days lost, etc.
A
- 90% of all strike action was unofficial
- average of 3m days lost each year to strikes throughout the 1960s
- 1968 4.7m
24
Q
Girling Brake strike
what happened?
A
- Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers (AEF) staged a walkout over a worker from another union using an oil pump that only AEF members were allowed to touch
- stopped the manufacture of brakes for the British car industry
- 5000 workers temporarily laid of
- milions of pounds lost
25
# causes of militancy
what was the real cause of increased militancy?
- inflation rising through the 60s
- affluence only benefitted those who were rewarded above-inflation pay increases
26
# *'In Place of Strife'*
Why did Wilson choose to produce the white paper?
- **1968** Ted Heath as the opposition proposed union reform
- Barbara Castle keen to squash union power in **1969** despite striking resulting in only 0.1% of all working days being lost
27
# *'In Place of Strife'*
what was her white paper?
| 4 key points
1. **governemnt could order strike ballot if a strike deemened to threaten the economy** (most workes would prefer to just remain at work anyway, and a balot would reduce the power of union bosses)
2. **unofficial strikers could be ordered back to work** for a 28 day *'cooling off'* period
3. **industrial board** to hand down a legally binding verdict for internal disputes
4. **stiff fines or imprisonment for 'illegal' (unofficial) strikes**
28
# *'In Place of Strife'*
Why was it scrapped?
- labour was dividied
- Callaghan (home sec) opposed it
- wilson feared for his job and scrapped it
- victory for unions, but this defeated Heaths future attempts to reform
29
# Industrial Relations **1970-1974**
Heaths Industrial Relations Act **1971**
- attempted to introduce Castle's measures
- stewards could now face jail
- Heaths government hesitated to efnorce its own rules
30
# the miners strike
Why were miners strikes more likely? how had they been treated compared to other manufacturing workers?
| -
- **1960s** wages 3% lower than manufacturing workes by the end of the decade
- high expectations of nationalisation were not fulfilled
- they were left out from rising living standards and consumerism
- infaltion
31
# the miners strike
**1960s** NCB and the NUM
- NCB had closed over 400 pits and 420,000 miners had been made redundant throughout the **1960s**
- low wage claims kept the NCB open in poor parts of the country
32
# the miners strike
**1970** Union vote
- 33% pay increase
- NUM leadership voted for strike action but 2/3 majority was required, and 50% voted for strike action. Unffocial strikes broke out across the north of england and south wales.
33
# the miners strike
Heaths policy and the next strike
- 8% limit pay rises
- December **1971** second ballot was successful and a strike began in **Jan 1972**
34
# '*Flying Pickets'*
Arthur Scargill
leader of the Barnsley Area Strike Committee
35
# '*Flying Pickets'*
Arthur Scargill and the Flying Pickets strategy
- using a group of 1000 miners to blockade power stations and coal depots
- **1972** this reduced electricity output to 25%
- Scragill had 40,000 miners picketing 500 seperate sites across teh country
36
# '*Flying Pickets'*
Heath and Scargill, concessions?
- Heath had not planned for strike action
- Scragill shut down the west Midlands gas boards Saltley coke depot in Birmingham
- government offered a **27% pay rise.**
37
# '*who governs Britain*
**1974 strike**: what happened?
- NUM realised the oil crisis meant the country was dependent on coal
- coal fired power stations began to run short on suppleis of coal
- electricity production declining led to power cuts
- state of emergency and 3 day week
38
# '*who governs Britain*
Heath and **1974** slogan/
- '*who governs Britain?*
- asked the voters to back him against the unions
- defeated
39
# Industrial relations **1974-1979**
Wilsons social contract. Why did it fail?
- meant to prevent the need for formal incomes policy with specified limits for pay rises
- rested on the assumption that union bosses would persuade their members to accept pay restraint
- but union bosses were weak. Stewards were more powerful
40
# Industrial relations **1974-1979**
**1975** TUC agreed to pay increases?
- of £6 per week to workers earning less than £8500
- accepted further limits in **1976**
- rejected a motion in **1976** to end the social contract and return to free pay bargaining
41
# Industrial relations **1974-1979**
relations good in **1978**??
- wilson resigned in ill health in **1976**
- prospects for Labour in the next GE looked good
- the unions complied with Callaghans call for pay restraint
- if he called an election in mid**1978** he probably woulod have won
42
# the winter of discontent
Healey and ending the social contract **1977**
- he believed inflation was under control and free bargaining could return
- the following year, infloation soared and he enforced a strict 5% pay increase for lowwage workers
43
# Ford pay negotiations
unofficial strike beginnings
- ford attempted to enforce the governments pay policy
- 15,000 auto workers went on strike **22 September**
- strike was unofficial
44
# Ford pay negotiations
became official?
- 5 October TGWU endorsed it
- 57,000 workers refused to work
- ford offered 17% pay rise which incurred governmetn penalties, and showed the social contract was unenforceable
45
# Ford pay negotiations
how did the government sabotage the social contract
- voted through a motion in October **1978** to stop government ntervention in pay negotiations
46
# haulage strike
What happened? **December 1978** Lorry drivers
- banned overtime, demanding a 40% pay rise
- TGWU picketed oil refineries, meaning petrol couldnt reach petrol stations and heating oil couldnt reach schools, hospitals, and homes
47
# Public sector strike
22 January **1979** public sector strike: why?
- millions went on strike as unions such as the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) tried to ensure members got the same rises as the private sector
- public sector unions demanded £60 a week from £40
48
# Public sector strike
how did public secotr unions lose control?
- ambulance service and 999 emergency telephone line workes went on strike
- cancer patients had to use hte underground to get to hospital appointments
- Jan **1979** gravediggers went on strike
- press exaggerated strikes
49
# Public sector strike
what did the governemnt offer public sector strikers?
11% pay rise
strikes gradually decreased as strikers got pay increases or decided to return to work anwyway
50
# shifting public attitudes
opinons on the unions **1969** then in **1979**
- **1969** 60% had a positive view of the unions
- **1979** 20%
