Thirty three years ago to the day and just 48 hours after Ted Heath’s Tory party were voted out of parliament, British coal workers under the leadership of Joe Gormley ended a 4 week national strike.
New Labour, in a pre-election promise, had said they would put an end to the 16 week NUM dispute over pay.
A deal amounting to a 35% wage increase was offered to Britain’s 260,000 miners, meaning men working at the coal face would now earn £45 per week; interestingly, that £45 was more than double my wage at the time and I was working in higher education!
Arthur Scargill, leader of the Yorkshire branch of NUM, immediately pressed for further increases in miner’s wages to bring the British industry into line with its European counterparts and a second huge pay award (also around 35%) was granted in 1975, making mine workers among the best paid in the UK.
Thanks to the Thatcher government's emasculation of the trade union movement, the once mighty NUM is no longer a trade union force to be reckoned with. Nowadays it is the public service union Unison that has the power to bring the country to its knees.
But will Unison be calling an indefinite national strike over the derisory, below inflation pay award offered to its workers this week? I doubt it.
It’s interesting to note though, tempers are running high and the person in the street seems less than enchanted with the current Labour government’s policies on pay, road charging, nuclear deterrent, etc.
Back in ’74 Sailor Ted went to the polls in an attempt to win support for Tory policies and got a bloody nose for his troubles. I wonder what would happen should King Tony be tempted to call a general election today?
