The miners' strike

The Miners’ Strike was a mass protest of British miners that lasted from March 1984 to March 1985. It was fought in order to prevent the closure of coal mines announced by the government and also to save the miners jobs and the mining communities in the afflicted areas. It can also be regarded as a battle for power between the Trade Union movement and the Conservative government under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. After almost a year of striking action, the strike ended in a defeat for the miners and thus in a success for Thatcher that eventually diminished the power of the Trade Unions.

The preface

In the years prior to 1984 the British coal industry was already in decline due to cheaper coal imports from abroad and a change from coal firing to gas, oil and nuclear power for electricity needs. The coal industry had been nationalised in 1947 and was heavily subsidised by the government. Margaret Thatcher attempted to make the coal industry more effective by privatisation of the whole electricity sector and by closing down the mines that were regarded as unprofitable. A first attempt to close down coal mines was made in 1981, but the threat of a national strike by the miners made the government step down from the idea. They felt, they were not prepared to fight a battle with the Trade Unions yet. In 1983 Ian MacGregor was made manager of the National Coal Board (NCB) which was responsible for the coal industry. The miners were represented by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), led by Arthur Scargill, one of the most powerful and influential of the Trade Unions. Thatcher regarded the Trade Unions as “the Enemy Within” and took actions to minimise their power. The government took up measures to prepare for a national miners’ strike in stockpiling coal, in order to prevent blackouts as happened during the miners’ strike in 1974, and a shift from coal firing to oil firing for the important industries. On March 6 1984 it was announce that 20 mines would be closed, which would result in the loss of 20.000 jobs and it would leave the communities heavily dependant on the coal industry deprived.

The strike

The first strike actions started already on March 5 as the first news of the closures arrived at the pits. Miners in the Yorkshire area, regarded to be one of the most productive mines, were the first to go on strike. Other mines in the North of England, in Wales and Scotland soon followed. The first picketing started as early as March 6. A national strike was called for by NUM leader Arthur Scargill on March 12. However, in order to make a strike legal a national ballot had to be held, giving the miners the chance to vote for or against going on strike. Since not all miners were in favour of striking actions the NUM change its voting system from a 55% majority to single majority vote, but it did not call for a national ballot. Thus, the strike was declared unconstitutional in May 1984. By that time a large number of miners had joined the strike. On May 29/30 a violent clash between pickets and police forces broke out at the Orgreave coking plant, during which 83 people were arrested, among them Arthur Scargill, and 62 were injured. By August 1984 the first miners started to take up work again, since they got no wages and since the strike was illegal there was also a drastic shortage in benefits paid to the miners families. Talks for negotiations between the NUM and the NCB continued to fail. In September, the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS) voted for joining the strike which would have bee a massive boost for the miners. However, after the National Coal Board made amends to them, they resigned from the strike action. By November more and more miners started to go back to work and by February 1985 half of the miners had taken up work again. In March 1985 the mines voted to go back to work again. Scargill blamed the Trade Unions for the failure of the strike for not supporting the miners.

The role of women in the strike

Women were already used to their men going on strike in order to fight for higher wages, but the miners strike was different because it was fought in order to safe the miners jobs and their communities instead of money. Women usually stayed at home, looked after the children and supported the miners at home, but this time they made more active attempts to support the miners. They started to set up soup kitchens, which took them out of their private isolation, trained them in organising and brought housework into public view. Women also went picketing with the men, where they encountered violence, abusive language and sexism, from the side of the police as well as the side of the miners. They also established groups to raise money, clothes and food for the miners’ families and they organised rallies and charities. One of these groups was Women Against Pit Closures, which was established to promote better education for working-class women, to support the miners and to be actively involved in the issues of the mining communities.

The aftermath

The miners’ strike was deemed a success for the Conservative government because it successfully diminished Trade Union power. The actions taken by the government managed to keep the effects of a national strike at a minimum and can thus be regarded as a victory for Thatcher’s politics. The closure of the pits went on as announced. In 1994 the coal industry was eventually privatised, creating a company known as UK Coal. In 1983 there had been 174 pits in Britain, by 2009 only six remained.

Sources:

Callinicos, Alex and Mike Simmons. The Great Strike. The Miners’ Strike of 1984-5 and its Lessons. London: Socialist Worker, 1985.

Hudson, Ray: The Changing Geography of the British Coal Industry: Nationalisation, Privatisation and the political Economy of the Energy Supply, 1947 - 1997. http://web.archive.org/web/20051203043628/http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0hva/hud.htm (12.06.2012)

Wilsher, Peter, Donald Macintyre and Michael Jones. Strike. Thatcher, Scargill and the Miners. Sevenoaks: Coronet Books, 1985.

http://www.northern-soft.de/miners/ (12.06.2012)

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Timeline-miners-strike/story-12177397-detail/story.html (12.06.2012)