Theme 1 - Changing Industrial Relations

Question 1

Union status pre 1918?

Answer 1

1871 Trade union act gave legal recognition to trade unions
-TUC established Labour Representation committee in 1900 to pursue parliamentary representation for the newly enfranchised working class. Became Labour Party

Question 2

What was the state of British industry after WW1?

Answer 2

• Not moved on much since Victorian times
• Heavy industry was no match for production line USA markets
• Newer industries in Midlands and southeast (such as motor vehicles) adopted American production line and became prosperous
• Increase in light industry producing consumer and household goods such as washing machines and fridges. Wages were good

Question 3

What is meant by ‘two England’s’? Examples?

Answer 3

• Differences between those in older and newer centres of industry
• Cotton, mining and ship building lost 1/3 of workforce
• those making electrical appliances, hotel workers and building industry all increased workforce

Question 4

What was the state of industrial relations between 1918-21?

Answer 4

• DLG had reduced strikes during WW1 (still 48 in 1917)
• Government and TUC relationships worsened
• Strikes decreased after War as factories took on large number of men with good pay. Until 1921….
• 1921 depression hit, unemployment rose and strikes increased (84 million days lost) as people despised the lack of food and price rises

Question 5

What was the miners strike of 1921?

Answer 5

• Miners union had 900k members making it largest union
• miners missed nationalisation of pits during WW1 as private owners cut wages + increased hours. Miners had to accept these lower wages due to rising unemployment
• Miners + Railwaymen + Transport workers = possible GS in 1921
• railwaymen and transport pulled out of triple alliance on ‘black Friday’ as the miners did not let them join in with negotiations
• Lasted from 15 April-28 June 1921 but they eventually had no choice but to return to work and accept 20% wage cuts

Question 6

What was the 1926 General strike?

Answer 6

• Decision to turn back to gold standard drastically effected mine owners resulting in wage cuts
• Slogan ‘Not a minute or the day nor a penny off the pay”
• Gov feared GS so offered subsidies to mine owners until 1 May 1926
• TUC announced GS on 3rd May when subsidies ran out
• Gov was prepared and got public volunteers to do strikers jobs, British gazette provided government propaganda
• Strike only lasted 9 days and collapsed when they realised the 1906 Trades Disputes act (TDA) which gave unions legal immunity would not apply
• Failed to majorly disrupt country and workers returned back to work accepting more wage cuts

Question 7

Impact of 1926 General strike?

Answer 7

• Labour distanced themselves from TUC
• 1927 TDA prevented sympathetic strikes and mass picketing
• Mining industry lost 30% of its jobs

Question 8

What were industrial relations like between 1929-39?

Answer 8

• Unions were weakened by GS and Great Depression caused Union funding to decrease
• Union membership in 1932 had halved since 1922
• Communist party, National Unemployed Workers Movement (NUWM) grew in strength
• By 1939 heavy industry areas were in terminal decline and unions were too weak to help

Question 9

What impact did WW2 have on work opportunities and conditions?

Answer 9

• Essential work order of 1941 meant that if your job was essential you would not be allowed to leave it during war time (Eg: munitions work, coal etc)
• Skilled workers were in shortage so the 1939 Control of Employment act was used to allow semi-skilled workers to undertake formally skilled jobs
• Women started to increase working roles with 7 million working in 1944
• Factory life and wages but so did hours

Question 10

What was full employment? (Long answer)

Answer 10

• Consensus on full employment between 1940-70
• Through much of the 1950’s and 60’s there was low unemployment due to favourable economic conditions
• Jobs were plentiful in some areas so wages and benefits increased as employers knew they now needed to attract workers and stop workers leaving for other jobs
• Education increased which meant job opportunities increased. It was no longer the norm for children to follow parents into their line of work.
• many Blue collar workers became white collar workers as tech developed
• Car industry expanded up to 500k workers in 1956
• Work was boring so pay increased to keep workers. Doubled for men between 1951-61
• Retail prices rose by 63% between 1955-69 but weekly wage rates went up by 88%
• People could buy more with their money as cost of tech fell (TV)

Question 11

What happened to job opportunities in the 1970’s?

Answer 11

• Unemployment rose to over 1 million in 1972
• Decline in HI lead to rising unemployment in the north and Wales
• In areas such as Midlands so much of the work relied on cars and components that a decrease in car production lead to problems in the headlight industry. Massive knock on effects
• 1976 Labour abandoned commitment to full employment and accepted that market forces would have a greater role in determining who worked and who did not

Question 12

Who was Ernest Bevin?

Answer 12

• Minister for Labour and National service under churchill’s wartime gov
• had almost complete control over British workforce thanks to Emergency Powers act of 1939
• He had strong ties with unions as he had been the leader of the Transport and General Workers union (TGWU)
• Strived for efficiency and offered bonuses for more efficient workers

Question 13

What was the status of Government-union relationships during 1939-45?

Answer 13

• Skilled workers and union shop stewards became powerful during war because of Labour shortages and high demand for quality work
• War created many problems such as long antisocial hours that led to unrest. In 1940 they introduced a law banning strikes and lockouts
• 1942 at Betteshanger in Kent, miners went on strike illegally. Originally Gov prosecuted them but miners in other pits joined in so gov increased wages instead
• Younger miners ‘Bevin boys’ were angry that they were payed less than older miners
• Spring 1944 100k Welsh miners went on strike and won therefore wages increased

Question 14

What were industrial relations like between 1945-51?

Answer 14

• Throughout war union leaders had been appointed to numerous government bodies on wages, industry and social policy. This continued post war
• Union leaders had more access to decision making
• 1939 union leaders sat on 12 government committees but in 1949 they sat on 60
• Labour and TUC relationships grew as Labour repealed the 1927 TDA therefore restoring the union movement much o its power

Question 15

How were industrial relations improving between 1951-64?

Answer 15

• High employment and high Union membership

- 1950 9200 members, 1965 10300 members

Question 16

How were unions being divided?

Answer 16

• Prosperous union leadership emerged whose lifestyles ere often far removed from their poorest members
• Many young union members were keen to participate in the consumer boom of the 1950’s and wanted wage rises that would enable this to happen. This meant they saw themselves having more in common with militant shop stewards
• Stewards were able to build power bases within certain factories and called strikes long before a decision had been made by union management (They had no right to do so)

Question 17

How did industrial relationships deteriorate between 1951-64?

Answer 17

• 1751 strikes per year between 1945-54 involving over half a million workers but from 1955-64 there were 2521 strikes involving over 1.1 million workers
• Middle class press blamed unions for Britain’s weak economic performance during 1960’s boom
• British public saw unions as lazy, obstructive and too powerful

Question 18

What were wildcat strikes? Impact?

Answer 18

• Strikes that were not officially sanctioned by unions or TUC
• Increased during 1960’s
• Wilson was refusing to intervene but public image of shop steward as a Napoleon esc figure was becoming more popular
• Public disliked labour gov for shared history with unions
• 90% of all strike action was unofficial showing that unions could not control their members
• 1960’s 3 million days lost to strikes each year but in 1968 this left to 4.7 million

Question 19

What caused an increase of union militancy during the 1960’s?

Answer 19

• Creeping inflation meant that the growth in affluence throughout the decade only benefitted the professions that were rewarded with above inflation pay increases
• Most union workers were exempt from this and so the pay increases they received during the decade were cancelled out by inflation
• The prosperity of the 1950’s and earl 1960’s seemed to be sliding into reverse

Question 20

What was the white paper “In place of strife”?

Answer 20

• Composed by Barbara castle
• Attempted to reduce Union powers to please general public
• Government could order a strike ballot before official industrial action took place if a strike was deemed to threaten the economy
• Workers in unofficial strikes led by shop stewards could be ordered back to work by the Secretary of State for employment for a 28 day cooling off period
• When unions fought one another the dispute would go to an industrial bored who would hand down a legally binding verdict
• A strike that broke these laws could be declared illegal and the union could face harsh fines and members could be imprisoned

Question 21

What was the impact of “in place of strife”?

Answer 21

• Public supported it but unions hated it.
• Labour Party was divided and when Wilson’s Home Secretary Callaghan opposed it Wilson feared for his job and scrapped the plans

Question 22

What lead to the 1970’s miners strikes?

Answer 22

• Miners had been underpaid and undervalued during the 1960’s with wages 3% lower than manufacturing workers by end of decade
• Miners felt they had been excluded from nations prosperity (mass consumerism and rising LS to name a few things)
• British coal industry shrank during 1960’s with NCB closing 400 pits. Only way the NUM was able to stop further closures was by accepting lower wages

Question 23

What was the 1972 miners strike?

Answer 23

• Arthur Scargill developed new tactic of flying pickets. Using 100 miners to quickly blockade power stations and coal depots
• Reduced electricity output by 25% in 1972
• Scargill had 40k miners picketing 500 separate sites across the country
• Heath failed to intervene as he feared wide spread violence and loss of life. He had not planned for the strike and had no available resources to beat it

Question 24

What was the second miners strike in 1973-74?

Answer 24

• NUM realised that the 1973 oil crisis had left the country coal dependent. Saw it as opportunity to gain pay increases
• Coal power stations began to run short on supplies of coal and electricity production declined
• Power cuts increased and a 3 day working week was created between January and march of 1974. Business were only supplied with power for 3 days in the week

Question 26

What was the winter of discontent?

Answer 26

-Callaghan’s chancellor Denis Healey was forced to limit pay rises to 5% in 1978 for low paid workers as inflation soared. Strike action followed as unions were fed up

Question 27

Examples of strikes during winter of discontent

Answer 27

• Ford attempted to implemented 5% pay policy and as a result 15k auto workers went on strike on 22nd September. Rose to 57k when TGWU endorsed strike on October 5th. Ford offered 17% pay rise, breaching social contract
• Public sector workers went on strike in Jan 1979. Wanted same pay rise as employees in private sector. Unions lost control over members with 999 operators going on strike. Some cancer patients used tube to get to appointments. Rubbish collected in city centres as collectors went on strike

Question 28

Impact of winter of discontent?

Answer 28

• Dramatic shift in public attitudes against trade unions
• 1969 60% of people had + views on unions, 1979 only 20% did
• Some within Union movement were not pleased with unions and 1 out of 3 trade unionists voted for thatcher (DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN)

Question 29

What was the social contract? How effective was it?

Answer 29

• Created by Wilson in 1974 as a voluntary code to prevent the need for formal incomes policy with specified limits for pay raises
• Rested on assumption that union bosses could persuade their members to accept pay restraints
• Union bosses were less influential compared to shop stewards and it was hard to convince members to stick to single 6% pay rises during period of 27% inflation meaning the contract was not effective

Question 30

What was the 1971 industrial relations act?

Answer 30

• Attempted to introduce ideas in “I’m place of strife”

- failed due to era of high inflation. TUC refused to comply or co-operate