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1946 trades dispute act repealed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
