Case Study 11: 20th Union Movement

Economic Causes

* Job security (nationalisation)
* low wages (Black Friday + Red Friday)

Social Causes

* Poor living and working conditions
* Black Friday
* Red Friday

Political Causes

* Goes back on subsidies
* Influence of WWI- nationalisation

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TUC

Trade Union Congress

The British Gazette

An anti-strike newspaper

1914

The government nationalised all mines during the war. This provided job security and increased wages

1919

After the war, the government renationalised the mines back to private ownership because there was a fallen demand and there were inefficient mines

15th April 1921

* Unions wanted renationalisation but mine owners and the government refused
* Black Friday- mine owners announced a cut in wages and an extension of working hours. There was a miners strike that the TUC organised but the strike failed

31st July 1925

Red Friday- Samuel Commission is set up to reach an agreement between owners and miners. The government agreed to subsidies the industry for 12 months

May 1926

* The TUC call a general strike to bring the country to a halt
* The government used the Emergency Powers Act to call the army and the middle class volunteered to fill jobs
* After 9 days, the strike fails and is called off. The strikers return to work

1946

Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act

1960s

Inflation

1969/71

Union Growth

1972/74

New Model Union Miners’ Strike

1974

Abolition of Industrial Relations Act

1979

Conservatives elected

1980/82

Employments Act

1984

Thatcher’s Trade Union Act- closed shops illegal

1985

Miners’ Strike

1980s

Failure of many strikes

Short Term Outcomes

* Strikes defeated by government and TUC called it off on 12th May 1926 after 9 days
* Actions of the government, army and volunteers undermined the effectiveness of the disruption
* Strikers ran out of funds and violence made it lose public support- Labour Party didn’t support it
* All strikers (except miners) return to work
* In November the miners ended the strike- accepting low wages and long working hours

Long Term Outcomes

* Catastrophic defeat for the union movement
* Union membership fell dramatically through 1920/30s not recovering until WWI
* Government passed Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act (1927) preventing unions joining together to strike, banning general strikes
* Unions can’t find political parties anymore- weaker influence over Labour Party

Significance

* It was a failure
* Government actions against Trade Unions after the general strike- Thatcher legislation
* Social Change- membership of trade unions
* Influence of trade unions- social and political
* Use of violence- controversy about miners