General strike PART 4 Flashcards
1917
Russian communist revolutions the upper class feared the idea of communism may spread
Mines during war
- nationalised high employment rates
- Government ran British coalminer = nationalisation
Mines after war
Government did not want to invest money so mines privatised
- after 1918 mine owners had to dramatically reduce costs due to lack of demand for coal
- mine owners could begin to close mines and use more efficient automatic machinery
British mines compared to abroad
-mines in Germany owned my big companies so had modern machinery
Friday April 15th 1921
Black Friday
- mine owners announced an extension of working day and drop in wages
- other trades worried their employers would do the same thing so TUC calls other trades to strike in solidarity
- however the other trades pulled out and miners forced to accept reforms
What happened in 1925 and what happened on Friday 31 st 1925 because of this
- mine owners announced a further extension and decrease in pay
- Red Friday — prime minister Stanley Baldwin knew other trades would support this time so agreed to subsidise mines
- samuels commission also set up to reach an agreement between owners and miners
April 1926 what happened on May 1st as a result
- April 1926 Baldwin’s subsidy money ran out and on May Day ( a day to celebrate workers rights) TUC called for a strike
- May 3rd lasted for 9 days
Government responses
- emergency power act from WW1 arranged for army to take over jobs
- encouraged middle class uni students to volunteer (more than 226,000 students )
- winston Churchill edited the newspaper British gazette to increase support against strike
- Stanley Baldwin said speeches referring to strike as revolution which fuelled people’s fear of communism
- radio persuades strikers to stop
- Catholic Church said it was a sin
- armoured cars drove into key cities to stop violent clashes
TUC actions
- creates newspaper British worker to encourage pacifist approach and explain reasons
- some strikers violent
- travelled country to picket
- funds set up to feed strikers and their families
- strikers derailed the flying Scotsman
Short term impact
Not successful if not worse
—showed solidarity amongst working class but in 1927 trades dispute act government banned picketing and sympathy strikes
-Great Depression of 1929 lead to mass unemployment so workers forced to take any job on offer
long term Impact
1946 trades dispute act repealed
- 1971 industrial relations act gave people a voice in workplace
- 1974 miners strike
- 1880 -1990 6 employment acts passed to limit power of trade unions
- 1998 minimum wage Blair
- 1980-82 thatcher passes employment acts to give employers the right to fire striking employees
- now we strike for trains bins nurses
- NHS and welfare state created
- government took control of many industries (nationalisation) = better rights + pay
how long did the Strike last for
9 days
what laws did Margaret Thatcher introduce to control trade unions?
Ban flying pickets
-ban flying pickets to stop workers from industry picketing in another dispute
what laws did Margaret Thatcher introduce to control trade unions?
restrict the closed shop
- a closed shop was a factory where you had to be a union member to work there
- government compensated workers who lost their job due to a closed shop
what laws did Margaret Thatcher introduce to control trade unions?
-money for secret ballots
-moderate union members would not be intimidated by a ‘show of hands’ vote
what laws did Margaret Thatcher introduce to control trade unions?
-fined unions for losses
-caused by unlawful strikes or secondary picketing
what happened in 1984
miners went on strike against Thatchers conservative government who had been trying to take power away from unions
1984 miners strike
what did government do
had anticipated strike so stockpiled coal to keep power stations running
1984 miners strike
-what was the problem between miners
-were not united so some continued to work
1984 miners strike
-what did government send in
- police to prevent striking miners from picking pits where miners were still working
- after a year the miners returned to work and the union movement has not been as strong since
