Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

Anti-Trade Union Laws:

• 1980 Employment Act

• 1982 Employment Act

• 1984 Trade Union Act

The 1980 Employment Act

• stated workers could only strike against their employers

• banned sympathy strikes

• imposed restrictions on ‘closed shops’ (where an employer would only hire union members and existing employees were required to be part of a trade union to keep their job)

The 1982 Employment Act

• trade unions could be sued for illegal strike action

• ended ‘closed shops’

The 1984 Trade Union Act

• a strike had to be approved by the majority of union members in a secret ballot for it to be legal

NB: this was one of the mistakes Scargill made during the 1984-85 Miner Strikes - he did not seek the approval of the NUM.

Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

Other Industrial Disputes in the 1980s (e.g. Steelworkers, Teachers, Nurses etc)

1980s Industrial Disputes

• Thatcher’s economic policies were naturally opposed by a number of trade unions representing public sector workers:

• NUPE (National Union of Public Employees)

• COSHE (Confederation of Health Service Employees)

Nurses, ambulance workers, teachers, steelworkers, miners and print workers went on strike during the 1980s.

Some of these strikes, especially those involving NHS workers, gained high levels of public support.

Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

The Wapping Dispute (1986-1987)

The Wapping Dispute (1986-1987)

• Rupert Murdoch (owner of The Times and The Sun newspapers) wanted to exploit new technologies available in the 1980s to reduce costs and increase his profits

• However, this would mean that workers would be unemployed and replaced with machines

• Newspaper companies feared strike action because newspapers cannot make up for lost sales

• Rupert Murdoch secretly planned to defeat the trade unions

• Management and trade unions failed to reach an agreement and in January 1986, a strike was called

• Management issued dismissal notices to the 6,000 strikers

• Production of The Times and The Sun moved from offices on London’s Fleet Street to a new home in Wapping

• Strike action continued to be arranged by the trade unions for a year

• These were often rowdy

• The police provided continual, large-scale support for Murdoch (showing Thatcher’s support also)

• In Feb 1987, the strike ended: Murdoch had won

Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

Causes of the 1984 Miner’s Strike

Thatcher’s government made it clear that the size of the coal industry would be reduced. The Conservative government wanted to close hundreds of uneconomic pits. Miners would be made redundant.

Trade unions had a stronghold over the country. Thatcher bitterly remembered how they defeated Heath’s government. (Who governs Britain?)

The government passed the Employment Act. This stated the unions had to have a national ballot and secondary picketing was outlawed.

Thatcher wanted to take on the miners.

Both the miners and the Conservatives wanted a fight.

Leader of the NUM, Arthur Scargill, was unwilling to compromise.

The newly appointed leader of the National Coal Board (NCB), Ian MacGregor, was also unwilling to compromise.

Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

Events of the 1984 Miner’s Strike

• Scargill launched the strike in the Spring of 1984

He did not launch the strike in the Winter

Nor did he hold a national ballot

• Coal was stockpiled by the Conservatives before the strike began at power stations where it would be needed.

They did not leave coal in pits where strikers could control it.

• Police were drafted in from all over the country

The MET police has a particularly fierce reputation and were hated by the miners.

• The Battle of Orgreave between NUM strikers and police was the location of some of the most heated battles between police and the miners

Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

Consequences of the 1984 Miner’s Strike

• Weakened the position of the trade unions

• Coal pits were closed

• Miners were laid off

• NUM quickly lost half of its membership

• Hundreds of mines were closed

• Some argue entire mining communities were destroyed

• Thatcher became even more powerful, dominant and in an even stronger position

• The remaining coal mines would be privatised by John Major's government in 1994

Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

Arthur Scargill’s Leadership Mistakes and Failures

1. The strike began on 6th March 1984

This was just as the UK emerged from winter. Therefore the demand energy was low.

2. Scargill did not ballot union members about the strike action

He chose to instead launch the strike with ‘flying pickets’. This caused Nottingham miners to leave the NUM and set up their own union which voted to keep their mines open.

3. Scargill lost public opinion

His public disapproval rating never fell below 79% throughout the year-long strike

4. The strike was defeated on 3rd March 1985

Topic 4, Lesson 12: How did Thatcher win the 1984 Miners Strike?

Significance of the 1984 Miner’s Strike (End of traditional trade Union Power, De-industrialisation and Privatisation of Coal

The remaining coal mines would be privatised by John Major's government in 1994.