industrial relations Flashcards
what was the industrial relations act 1971?
-aimed to reduce likelihood of strikes
-workers had right to choose whether or not to join a union
-national industrial relations court and industrial relations commission set up
-power for gov. to order a pre strike ballot and a cooling off period of up to 60 days
impact of industrial relations act:
-strikes increased due to hostility towards act
how many working days were lost to strikes in 1972?
23,909,000
-highest number since general strike of 1926
describe the miners’ strikes jan-feb 1972:
-use of flying pickets
-280,000 on strike
-led by arthur scargill
-stopped the movement of coal around the country
-a month later the gov. declared a state of emergency
-23% payrise agreed
what was the income policy?
-pay rises limited to 7% a year
-agreed to threshold payments - pay goes up if inflation goes above a certain level (to keep unions happy)
-heath and barber were convinced inflation wouldn’t go above that level
-however they were wrong and threshold payments had to be made 11 times!!!
what was the industry act 1972?
-aimed to involve gov., TUC and CBI in agreeing wages, prices, investment and benefits
-tried to manage wage demands
-heavily criticised by some on the right of the party
what was the impact of the yom kippur war and subsequent oil crisis, october 1973?
-oil prices shot up therefore coal was in more demand
-miners demanded 35% pay increase
-gave huge power to miners as england’s energy now had to be focused on coal not oil
-the miners refused to accept the gov.’s pay offer and the gov. refused to treat the miners as a special case
-jan 1974 = miners called a national strike
describe the state of emergency and 3 day week:
-power stations were using coal twice as quickly as it was being delivered to them
-heath wanted to conserve electricity in response to a wave of industrial action by engineers, dockers and firefighters and the looming threat of a national coal strike in the middle of an energy crisis
-severe restrictions on use of electricity
-inflation reached around 20%
-heath still refused to give the miners a deal
positives/strengths of Heath’s approach towards trade unions:
-many of the general public supported his decision to not concede to the miners’ demands
-neither national productivity or wages declined much as a result of the 3 day week
-heath was able to pass the industrial relations act - similar to in place of strife - which wilson’s gov. had failed to pass
negatives/weaknesses of Heath’s approach towards trade unions:
-3 day week was an extreme policy and demonstrated the state of emergency britain was in
-strikes caused rampant social divisions
-government income policy was a failure - had to make threshold payments multiple times
-industry act was viewed as a u-turn and faced opposition within party
-in 1972 there was the highest number of days lost to strikes since 1926
