"Match of the day!" the National Coal Board and held a national ballot on another strike. [4] Every picket line had to be authorised by the local NUM area with a chief picket to ensure that no violence took place. "The darkness in the streets was intense and scary. can I have some sources/ references? In late 1973, he reacted to the miners' work-to-rule by declaring his fifth . Services deemed essential were exempt from the action. In an episode of popular sitcom Are You Being Served? As leader of the Yorkshire miners during the national strike in 1974, he helped pioneer more radical labor organization tactics (such as sending picketers to specific plants to halt. "Britain could survive high oil prices for a while. From today, electricity will be switched off on a rota basis between 0700 and 2400 every day. [7] In contrast to the regional divisions of other strikes, every region of the NUM voted by a majority in favour of strike action. situation change dramatically. When another miners' strike began in 1974, Mr Heath called a snap general election hoping to rally public support against the miners. She called them "the enemy within" and the 1984-85 miners' strike was the most divisive confrontation of Margaret Thatcher's 11 years in power. The 1979 General Election campaign was played out in the months Fifty years ago this winter, the country faced power cuts, thousands were laid off and life ground to a halt as the miners went on strike. I was working in Aeroquip in Wales, at the time. The police were on the lookout for petrol hoarders - with 180 gallons of fuel found in one company director's garage. a league table of the best-paid industrial jobs. response or perceived lack of response to the Winter of Discontent and With the price of coal rising too and stocks dwindling, Britain's miners rejected a pay increase and voted to ballot for a national strike. While the This action hurt the coal industry and was unpopular amongst the British media, although the Trades Union Congress supported the NUM's actions. Rather than risk a total shutdown, working time was reduced to prolong the life of available fuel stocks. March 1974, the average price of oil had risen nearly 400% from $3 to $12 a If. "And relatively few jobs had been lost.". The strike occurred because wage negotiations between the NUM and the National Coal Board of the United Kingdom had broken down. It means consumers will face longer power cuts, up from six to nine hours. It was reported that one hairdresser in Essex planned to get round the three-day week by selling baked beans for 75p a tin along with free shampoo, as food shops were exempt from the restriction. 1972 began with a coal miners' strike. The incident cast a long shadow over the UK for the next decade. This stance meant oil supplies to the UK were largely uninterrupted, From 1 January 1974, commercial users of electricity were limited to three specified consecutive days' consumption each week and prohibited from working longer hours on those days. Minutes of Cabinet meeting from 20 December 1973. The lights had indeed gone out but the people survived it. three specified consecutive days a week and were banned from operating for long Spending all day in the dark at the . Relaxation now, would be seen as a sign of weakness on the part of the Government: the miners would be encouraged in their resolve, since a relaxation would be taken as firm evidence that the economy could not stand a three-day week and that the Government, rather than impose even harsher measures, would quickly settle with them. 'The worst power cuts since the fuel crisis of 1947', declared the Financial Times, which listed firms and industries across the country which were hit by power cuts. Something would need to be done to prevent this ever happening again. "We are asking you to cut down to the absolute minimum the use of electricity in your homes." latest offer of a 16.5% pay increase. although this limit was lifted on 8 February after the Prime Minister called a 'Who runs the country?' was the Tory election slogan, but the real answer was being delivered before voting day. the new Prime Minister. They are demanding a 9 a week pay rise on top of an average wage of 25. The period of electricity rationing lasted for more than two months and played a pivotal role in unseating the British government. With no late-night television people went back to doing things they used to do. SIR: Yes - oh dear yes - the miners' strike tells a story and we have had to wait a while for the London Review of Books to give us the privilege of reading an interpretation of it in its pages. Hitherto the aim had been to restrict consumption to prolong endurance. Week already into its second month, Prime Minister Heath called a snap election. Under the rules the two main TV companies BBC and ITV had to Fifty years ago this winter, the country faced power cuts, thousands were laid off and life ground to a halt as the miners went on strike. Conservative government of the day to impose wage restraint on public sector holders would be subject to power cuts up to 9 hours every other day; schools would have no heating or lights; and shops, offices, and . Hi Jill, thanks for commenting v good spot on the typo, have now corrected the article. [1] These included hospitals and supermarkets, along with newspaper printing Such a policy would be interpreted as an intensified form of Government confrontation with the unions and it would provide a continuing excuse for the TUC to maintain their protests. Commercial consumption of electricity would be limited to three consecutive days each week. On 24 January, NUM members voted overwhelmingly in favour Conflict was brewing again by the middle of 1973. Sales of candles reached an all-time high. The blackout winter of 1973 to 1974 showed how well the British could cope in a crisis. power generation across England and Wales from 1957 until privatisation in the On November 13, the day before the nation celebrated the wedding of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, Conservative prime minister Edward Heath declared a state of emergency. Miners voted to take industrial action if their demands werent 1977 (during) . another offer from the National Coal Board, the state-owned body running the The Minister of Labour, Michael Foot, settled the miners' strike and went on to represent workers' interests in parliament. Arab countries reduced supplies to the West. laid off, doubling the number of unemployed in a matter of hours. On November 12 the miners and electricity workers began an overtime ban. They decided to impose restrictions on power usage, electricity was rationed and firms not classed as essential services were forced to restrict their power usage to three days a week. "I am Santa Heath," said television impressionist Mike Yarwood on his Christmas show. It was . I have never been in a Union in my life but Scargills antics did right by me (and I expect many others) back then, happy days. The miners had always sought to deplete stocks by action short of a strike, and then impose a total strike when the economy was least able to resist it. The shortage of electricity is forcing more and more factories and businesses to close. The measure aimed to prolong the life of available coal stocks rather than risk a complete shutdown of the nations power supplies. "But the lights didn't just suddenly go off - daily timetables for power cuts were published in the papers and my wife and I prided ourselves on being prepared. Minutes of Cabinet meeting from 24 January 1974. Come November, the NUM rejected the latest pay offer from 1985: Falklands' row civil servant resigns, 1972: Miners' strike turns off the lights, 1965: Beeching plans for 'bloated' railways. they did enforce an overtime ban aimed at halving coal production. On November 12, 1974, negotiations stalled, and 120,000 miners walked off their jobs, honoring their tradition of "no contract, no work." The United Mine Workers (UMWA) had long been the backbone of American labor; as the largest union, in the '30s, it had bankrolled the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). An exception was the Daily Mirror, which ran an emotive campaign to support the NUM. 3% below the average worker in manufacturing. Compared to other countries such as the Netherlands, Britain There had been a widespread unofficial 297) and formed a minority government. I was under 30 and felt very grown-up being responsible for two small lives in medieval cold.". Your email address will not be published. In 1972 the NUM called a strike for wage increases, after a vote by its members. The myth of the 1970s tends to blur three moments into one: the power cuts as a result of the 1972 miners' strike, the implementation of a three-day week by Edward Heath's Conservative government during a subsequent coal dispute in 1974, and the spectacle of dead bodies lying unburied as rubbish piled up on British streets during the 1978 . rejected the proposal by almost a 2-to-1 margin (143,006 to 82,631). The public turned against the power workers and after just a week negotiations had begun and the action called off. As our coal fire was long gone, replaced by a far less attractive but much more practical gas fire, this didn't seem to be a big concern for us, at least at first. [4] Unlike in 1972, students were discouraged from joining miners' picket lines. On November 12 the miners and electricity workers. The coal industry had huge strategic importance in terms of power generation and domestic heating. Your email address will not be published. To tackle this, the government capped public sector pay rises and publicly promoted a clear capped level to the private sector. Britons had to get used to living under candlelight as power cuts became a feature of everyday life. Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Fife Today, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. asks menswear assistant Mr Humphries, played by John Inman. For children it was an exciting time to be growing up. As was the case in the Blitz, people rose splendidly to the occasion and adapted well to the new realities. The lessons of the 1974 Borax strike. [11], In the campaign for the 1979 general election, after the Winter of Discontent running into that year, Labour reminded voters of the Three-Day Week, with a poster showing a lit candle and bearing the slogan "Remember the last time the Tories said they had all the answers? Services deemed essential (e.g. As our power grid transitions away from coal to renewables, it appears unlikely. Sporting fixtures had to be rearranged to get round the floodlight ban. At the time, the government was offering workers Midweek football matches were switched from evenings to afternoons. In early December the government announced a new set of emergency measures including a 50mph speed limit on all roads, a heating limit of 63F (17C) in office and commercial premises and a reduction in street lighting. 43% pay rise for its members. The strike was characterised by the miners sending flying pickets to other industrial sites to persuade other workers to strike in solidarity, which led to railway workers' refusing to transport coal and power station workers' refusing to handle coal. Meanwhile the Government must go ahead with the arrangements to introduce the three-day working week. Alfie you're so cruel, asking us what is was like 'back then' making us feel all ancient! In 1972 gas powered central heating was a luxury and "smokeless zones" were new fangled ideas. So I could only work there, [] 4,942 megawatts (MW) per year to 25,514. The trade figures would inevitably get worse if short-time work continued. It lasted a year and was possibly the longest and most damaging dispute in Britain's industrial history. Labour's Harold Wilson gave the miners a 29 per cent pay rise. the staff of the Grace Brothers department store used ingenious methods to keep themselves warm when the central heating was turned off. The ability of the economy to withstand restrictions was a much more critical factor for the endurance of the country than were the fuel stocks. Miners did not call a national strike again until March 1984. Even the 2014 Bangladesh blackout, one of the largest ever, which left, [] On Nov. 6, 1972, the British government attempted to place a cap on wages to curb inflation, but this. The Christmas number one in 1973 was the classic Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade and its lyric, "So here it is Merry Christmas, everybody's having fun" captured the national mood. [4], The election resulted in a hung parliament: the Conservative Party took the largest share of the vote, but lost its majority, with Labour having the most seats in the House of Commons. Tories plan revenge The only area that did not was the Colliery Officials and Staff Association (COSA) section. Seventy per cent of Britain's power supplies are derived from coal, and the strike will be a serious blow to the economy. . Nine months after the blackout winter there was a baby boom. Photograph: Evening Standard/Getty Images . From. In discussion it was argued that the Government should not appear to use the three-day week as a threat to the unions. In March 1984, the coal miners went on strike again. In the two days following the There were power cuts (= interruptions in the supply of electricity) all over Britain, a state of emergency was announced, and the miners won, gaining a large pay increase. Within hours, 1000 extra police had been thrown into Nottinghamshire against the picketing miners. The 5 worst financial disasters and recessions in history (and what they taught us) - FactsandHistory, Climate Lockdowns are Not the Solution Conservative Article, https://hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/40-years-since-the-beginning-of-the-three-day-week/, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/16/newsid_2757000/2757099.stm, Rahimafroozs Fourth Option Idea - Outthinker. The balance of power between the government and the unions in the Social Contract was controversial. The strike occurred because wage negotiations between the NUM and the National Coal Board of the United Kingdom had broken down. Tories said they had all the answers?. The February 1974 general election was dominated by the three day working week and miners' strike as an issue: Heath believed that this was a politically opportune time to hold an election because he thought, broadly speaking, the public agreed with the Tories' hardline stance on the issue of union power and strikes. Miners now into the sixth week of their strike over pay, have been picketing power stations and all other sources of fuel supply in an attempt to step up pressure on the Government. The Post Office began to issue petrol coupons to car owners. All 289 pits in England and Wales are closed and the miners say they are prepared for a long fight.
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