Workers’ Rights

Actions and Reactions: TUC vs the Government

The TUC's actions were massive in scale but reactive. They called out their "First Line" of 1.5 to 1.75 million transport, printing, and heavy industry workers, while setting up Local Councils of Action to manage food transport permits.

• However, the government had used the 9-month subsidy granted on "Red Friday" (July 1925) to meticulously prepare for a strike.
• The government divided Britain into 10 administrative regions and relied on the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies (OMS), which recruited 226,000 volunteers to replace striking workers and keep supplies moving.
• Winston Churchill edited the government's propaganda newspaper, The British Gazette, which reached a circulation of 2 million. This allowed the government to frame the strike as a revolutionary, unconstitutional threat to democracy.

Evaluating the Impact and the Trade Disputes Act 1927

After 9 days, the TUC called off the strike without any written guarantees protecting workers, using a "face-saving" unofficial proposal called the Samuel Memorandum. The government quickly capitalised on this victory to legally cripple union power.

• The Trade Disputes Act 1927 made general and sympathy strikes illegal.
• It also restricted mass picketing and changed the political levy from "contracting out" to contracting in, causing the Labour Party to lose 33% of its union subscriptions.
• On one hand, the strike was a catastrophic failure for the unions: miners faced severe wage cuts, the Triple Alliance's ability to act in unison was broken, and union membership fell by 500,000 in 1927 alone.
• On the other hand, it was a complete success for the Conservative government. Ultimately, the government decisively asserted its constitutional authority, proving that state preparation and media control could defeat coordinated industrial action.

Late 20th Century Trade Union Reform (1980s)

Imagine going on strike to protect your job, only to find out your union's entire bank account has been legally seized by the government. This dramatic shift in power became reality during the 1980s.

• Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government used a "Step-by-Step" (or "salami-slicing") strategy. Rather than passing one massive law that might trigger a general strike, they introduced six separate Employment Acts between 1980 and 1990 to chronologically strip union powers.
• First, the Employment Act 1980 restricted picketing strictly to a worker's own workplace, effectively banning secondary picketing. It also required an 80% majority in a secret ballot to establish a new closed shop.
• Next, the Employment Act 1982 removed a union's immunity in tort. This meant unions could now be sued for massive financial damages (between £10,000 and £250,000) by employers losing money during a strike.
• Following this, the Trade Union Act 1984 mandated secret ballots before any industrial action could take place, ending the old system of public "show of hands" voting. Finally, the Employment Acts of 1988 and 1990 completely ended the closed shop.

The Miners' Strike (1984–1985)

The ultimate test of these new laws was the brutal Miners' Strike, triggered when the National Coal Board announced 20 pit closures and 20,000 job losses.

• The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), led by Arthur Scargill, fought back. However, Scargill fatally refused to hold a national ballot.
• Because of the new Employment Acts, the courts ruled the strike "illegal", which allowed the government to use sequestration to freeze and seize the NUM's funds.
• The government's advanced stockpiling of coal at power stations (the Ridley Plan) meant the lights stayed on. The unions were crushed, and overall union membership plummeted from a peak of 13 million in 1979 to under 7 million by the late 1990s.