(1c) Change and challenge in the workplace

Question 1

When was the miner’s strike?

Answer 1

1921

Question 2

What was the 1921 miners strike?

Answer 2

Miners in the country went on strike after private owners cut their wages and lengthened their hours in a way to compete with foreign competition.

Question 3

What happened in June 1925?

Answer 3

June 1925 saw a significant fall in coal prices and private owners further pay cuts. The government stepped in and supplemented wages to stop Industrial Action.

A long-term solution was worked out by the Samuel Commission though which argued for the end of the government supplementing wages and a further 13.5% pay cut.

Question 4

What happened on the 1st may 1926?

Answer 4

1st May 1926: A million miners got locked out across the country for refusing to accept the new conditions and the TUC called for a General Strike to begin on the 4th May of that year.

Question 5

What was the main reason for industrial action during this time?

Answer 5

was the poor handling of the miners in the country during the transitioning of the economy from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy.

Question 6

What happened to mines during the war?

Answer 6

The coal industry before the war was booming.

It was used for nearly everything and during the war the demand for coal increased even more.

Because coal production was so important to the war effort the Government took over the ownership of the mines and ran them instead of the private owners.

Improvements were made in conditions and pay for most miners.

Question 7

What happened to Mines in 1921?

Answer 7

But in 1921 all mines were returned to private owners.

Question 8

Why did mining go into decline after the war?

Answer 8

This was because, oil was used as a fuel especially in shipping, electricity became available, more efficient boilers were made, other countries began to mine coal and British pits had been ‘over mined’ during the war and owners were reluctant to spend money modernising mines.

Question 9

What was “Black Friday” in 1925?

Answer 9

When coal prices suffered because of a further drop in the competitiveness of British prices (linked to the decision to reattach the pound to the Gold Standard) miners went on strike

Question 10

How did Black Friday influence the General strike?

Answer 10

This inspired the solidarity that was seen at the start of the General Strike in 1926. The “buying of time” by the government with the short-term subsidies in 1925 was seen as a victory for the working class and interestingly this event is known as “Red Friday” as well as “Black Friday”.

Question 11

What was the short-term cause of the General strike?

Answer 11

The short-term cause of the General strike was the Samuel Commission; the commission rejected nationalisation and said the government should end the subsidy. It agreed to wage cuts and said working days should be 7/8 hours long. The report sided completely with the mine owners since the whole commission was made up of rich industrialists.

Question 12

What was the social consequences of the General strike?

Answer 12

Lots of people processed the extent of the Strike as the harbinger of a working class revolution, similar to what had happened in Russia eleven years earlier.

Linked to this and in order to offset the worst effects of the strike, many white collar workers volunteered to operate key services during the strike; such as digging coal, operating trams and driving busses.

Question 13

What happened to wages and employment as a result of the general strike?

Answer 13

Wages for miners were slashed and the industry lost 30% of its workers.

Question 14

How many days were lost to strike action in 1926?

Answer 14

162.2 million days were lost to strike action in 1926, largely because of the General Strike.

Question 15

How did union membership change as a result of the depression?

What was the reason of this?

Answer 15

Due to mass unemployment, union revenues fell away and membership declined from its height of 8 million in 1922 to 4.5 million in 1932.

Question 16

What legislation was passed to limit the power of unions?

Why was this able to be passed?

Answer 16

The 1927 Trades Dispute Act

The support from the Middle-Class and non-unionised portion of the country during the strike was so strong, that afterwards, the government (Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister at the time) felt politically strong enough to pass legislation to limit the power of the Unions:

Question 17

What was the The 1927 Trades Dispute At?

Answer 17

This prevented sympathy strikes and mass picketing.

Question 18

What was the cultural consequences of the general strike?

Answer 18

The BBC established its role as a public service broadcaster that was on the side of conservatism (small c) in British life. The BBC broadcast messages in support of the government’s position on the strike.

Question 19

What happened to the strength of unionism after the general strike?

Answer 19

For the strength of Unionism, the Strike was a disaster. The TUC ordered their workers to return to work after 9 days, because they could not countenance a long and drawn out strike where they might lose control.

Question 20

how did unions change during WW2?

Answer 20

Unions did grow in power and were able to achieve more through strike action and other demands.

Question 21

What happened to industry during the war?

Answer 21

Many industries were nationalised (including coal mines) and the economy was centrally planned. People had to work long hours in difficult conditions which led to demands and pay disputes.

Question 22

What happened in 1944?

Answer 22

100,000 welsh miners went on an unofficial strike for better wages.

Question 23

What was the consequences of the 1944 coal miners strike?

What did it also demonstrate?

Answer 23

was that the government was forced to pay up in order to keep the war effort going.

It also demonstrated the changing effect the war had on the power of the Unions and laid the foundations for one of the principles of the post-war consensus, cooperation with Trade Unions.

Question 24

What happened in 1943?

Answer 24

workers at a factory in London making tail-fins for Halifax bombers went on strike and more than 16,000 women and some men walked out of the Rolls-Royce factory in Glasgow — where they should have been making engines for fighter planes.

Question 25

Give an example of industrial unrest at the docks?

Answer 25

In December 1943, 1,000 dockers went on strike in Middlesbrough and 1944 was considered to be an annus horribilis in terms of strike action, with lightning walk-outs in many ports at full stretch preparing for the invasion of Europe.

Question 26

What were all the strikes done during the war done despite?

Answer 26

This was all done despite the existence of a law that the government had passed in 1940 called Defence Regulation 58AA that banned strikes and lockouts, thus showing that International Relations were not calm despite the threat of the war.

Question 27

When was the 1927 Trade Disputes Act repealed?

Who by?

Answer 27

The Labour Government in 1945 repealed the 1927 Trade Disputes Act.

Question 28

How did commitment to full empymont impact trade unions?

Answer 28

A commitment to full employment meant that there was not as much competition for jobs and, also, the membership numbers of Trade Unions dramatically increased from the low point of the Depression years.

Question 29

What did the labour government pass in 1965?

What did it do?

Answer 29

In 1965, the Labour Government passed the 1965 Trades Dispute Act which gave Unionised workers more protection against being fired in the face of Strike Action.

Question 30

What did Harold Wilson fail to do with unions?

Answer 30

failed to mitigate and rebalance the power the Unions had in British economic life.

Question 31

What did Wilson attempt to put in place in 1969?

Answer 31

“In Place of Strife”.

Question 32

What would have the “In Place of Strife”included if it would have been accepted?

Answer 32

secret ballots needed to take place before strikes become compulsory.

a cooling off period of 90 days could be imposed at ministerial discretion.

Fines would be available for breaches of the law by union activists.

Question 33

What did the growth of a consumer society create?

Answer 33

The growth of a consumer society created a new type of economic logic in Britain. The emotional life of Britons became associated with economic wants, as opposed to needs from the 1950s onwards - and workers were determined to get a share in the consumer boom.

Question 34

What failed during the Macmillan years?

Answer 34

Attempts to involve workers, along with management and politicians in managing wage restraint for the greater good of the economy failed during the Macmillan years (NICKY).

Question 35

What did the Heath Government do at the start of the 1970’s?

Answer 35

The Heath Government made a bold move to tackle the problems of Industrial Action with the 1971 Industrial Relations Act

Question 36

What was the 1971 industrial relations act?

Answer 36

which was designed to make sure Strikes were “valid” and therefore reduce the amount taking place. The Trade Unions, in response, simply moved to not register its validity.

Question 37

Trade unions were damaging for the economy in the 1970s

Give 3 examples

Answer 37

Inflation averaged 9%.
Pay increases averaged 14%
Productivity only increased by 5%.

Question 38

What was the economy like in the 1970’s?

What were workers doing?

Answer 38

British workers were essentially being paid more to produce less. The economy was stagnant and inflation was rising.

Question 39

Why did unions remain strong in the 1970’s?

Answer 39

The Unions remained strong because the Heath Government tried to tackle their power but did not make a strong move to end the commitment to full employment; at the same time, tactics became bolder

Question 40

How where unions becoming bolder?

Answer 40

Flying Pickets (the process of workers moving to any site where there was an industrial dispute) and the blocking of coal distribution centres put immense pressure on a government which had miscalculated the size of Britain’s reserves.

Question 41

Why did work opportunities change between 1939-1979?

Answer 41

=Consumer boom
=Commitment to full employment
=The Butler Act 1944
=Changes in tourism
=Changes in car ownership
=1963 Robbins Report into Universities and the Open University (1971)
=Second-Wave Feminism after the late 1950s
=Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex =Discrimination Act 1975
=Race Relations Acts of 1965, 1968 and 1976

Question 42

By the late 1950s how did attitudes of women change?

Answer 42

By the late 1950s it was clear that women were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their traditional role as homemaker.

Question 43

What happened in the 2nd half of the decade for changing work opportunities?

Answer 43

As the second half of the decade wore on, there was gradually less open discrimination in the workplace, supported by political changes to do with Civil Rights.

Question 44

What did the equal pay act and sexual discrimination act do for changing work opportunities?

Answer 44

in theory, illegal to offer women lower pay for the same job but more importantly the SDA of 1975 made it illegal for men to not hire someone simply because they were a woman.

Question 45

What did more and more women do in the 1960’s?

Answer 45

With more and more women wishing to enter workplaces throughout the 1960s and 1970s - this legislation supported important cultural changes at the time.

Question 46

How did the Race relations Act of 1976 do for changing work opportunities?

Answer 46

the Race Relations Act of 1976 was important for offering more employment protection for members of the BAME community.

Question 47

what was unemployment like between 1948 and 1970?

Answer 47

Unemployment rose to above 2% in only eight of the years between 1948 and 1970.

Question 48

When did labour abandon a commitment to full employment?

Why was this?

Answer 48

By 1976, the economic situation in the country was so bad that Labour abandoned a commitment to full employment.

Question 49

What was a new cultural concept due to changing opportunities for work:

Answer 49

Culturally the concept of holidaying.

When it came to leisure and travel, affordability sparked a wider market in holiday opportunities for consumers. Far away locations in Britain like the Lake District and North Wales became holiday hotspots for the first time - simply because more people than ever before could reach them.

Question 50

How did the war help employment?

Answer 50

War production and “Total War” brought full employment by 1941 and the deployment of large numbers of women into factories and jobs previously viewed as “men’s work”.

Question 51

In 1944 how much of the population was in war work?

How much of this was women?

Answer 51

By 1944 it was estimated that 33% of the population was used in war work, including 7 million women.

Question 52

What did the development of light manufacturing lead to?

Answer 52

meant there were new job opportunities and a need for more managers and “white collar” jobs which could be accessed by a broader part of the population due to changes in education.

Question 53

Were employment opportunities equally distributed?

What did this lead to?

Answer 53

This opportunity was not equally distributed across the country though and the north/south divide was not reconciled by further economic developments in the post-war years.

Question 54

What did the decline of heavy industry lead to?

Answer 54

Therefore, the decline of heavy industry in the 1970s meant there were less job opportunities in the north of England as well as South Wales and and and the West Midlands.