Miners' strikes Flashcards
describe coal under Heath:
-gov. gave increased power to TUs which caused them to constantly demand for pay rises
-led to miners strikes in 1972 and 1974 which led to a three day week
-in the 1974 election critics of Heath said ‘who governs Britain?’
what was a 1979 Tory manifesto pledge to do with unions?
-wanted to bring unions under government legislation
-no subsidies to ‘lame duck’ industries, no gov. bailouts for nationalised industries
who introduced anti-strike legislation and what did this include?
-Norman Tebbit
-police used to break up picketing
-illegal to go on strike without balloting members first
who was the secretary of state for energy and what did he do?
-Nigel Lawson
-he stock-piled coal from 1981 to create a 6 month reserve, was basically preparing for a possible strike
how many people in Britain lived in coalfield areas?
5.7million people (which was 1/8th of the population!)
what’s a quote that relates to how mining communities were centerd on a singular pit as the main source of employment?
‘close a pit, kill a community’
what was the problem with mining in Britain?
it was inefficient, not competitive and expensive (because the miners had made excessive pay demands). it hadn’t been modernised and working practices were restricted by TUs. german coal was much cheaper
where were the main coal areas?
South Yorkshire, South Wales and Ayrshire
what did the national coal board do?
ran Britain’s collieries and distributed British coal
who was the head of the national coal board and what was he concerned about?
-Ian MacGregor
-very concerned with profits as he was told to make the coal industry very profitable
what did the national coal board propose to do in 1980?
-close 20 unprofitable pits
-told Yorkshire miners they were ‘less productive than women miners in the US’ which antagonised the unions
who was the president of the national union of miners and what did he believe?
-Arthur Scargill
-he believed that no pit should close if it still had coal reserves
-argued that it would be cheaper for the gov. to continue to subsidise unprofitable mines than to pay benefits to unemployed miners - evidenced that it would cost a third more
where were the individual pits that began to strike?
South Yorkshire and Stirlingshire
when did the national union of miners declare a national strike?
12th of march 1984
they did this without holding a national vote!
what did the high court rule in October 1984, relating to the strikes?
they ruled that the strike was illegal because members had not been consulted through a ballot
