In the early 19th century, women and children also worked in the coal pits along with the men. The miners' strike of 1984-1985 was a major industrial action within the British coal industry in an attempt to prevent colliery closures. 1991: US bombers strike civilians in Baghdad, 2001: Landmark Aids case begins in Scotland, 1975: Miners set for 35 per cent pay rises. But it was more than that: to the communities involved, from Scotland and South Wales to Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, it often felt like an undeclared civil war, pitting village against village, family against family even brother against brother. 12th November 1973: The NUM stopped overtime and halved Britain's coal production. The longest strike was the 1984 UK Miners' strike, which lasted from 6th March 1984 - 5th March 1985. Safety has always been an issue for mining from its early days to more recent mining accidents and catastrophes. Thirty-seven-year-old Betty Harris distressing testimony described pulling coal out of the pit on her hands and knees. Down in a coal mine, there's no such thing as a "nine to five." An initial search for miners reveals explosions, accidents, and strikes in the vast amount of mines operating across Great Britain. Let's find out about these strikes and the changing power dynamic between trade unions and the government. However, miners soon faced difficulties: By the end of the 1960s, an unofficial miners' strike in 1969 protested against the unfair working hours of older miners and wage decreases. Leading left-winger and President of the Yorkshire branch of the NUM Arthur Scargill said: The social contract has been breached and to that extent I welcome the advances which have been made.". Women ran the home and often took control of the pay packet, giving their man pocket money for drink and cigarettes. Most Nottinghamshire miners refused to strike, as did smaller groups of miners elsewhere. In the 1970s, the NUM and NCB negotiated miners' treatment. Bob Fitzpatrick has been a miner since 1983. Whole populations of towns were dependant on employment from the mines. StudySmarter is commited to creating, free, high quality explainations, opening education to all. Miners were proud of their work. This report from Dundee Courier found that a miner was charged in contravention of the Moines regulation Act when he recklessly unlocked his safety lamp while working in the mine. 1st March 1974: The general election resulted in a hung parliament. Total Pay. These communities were often at some distance from towns and cities with their concentrations of other workers. Desperate to preserve their jobs and communities, which often depended entirely on the local pit, the Yorkshire miners walked out, as did their Scottish counterparts. They were the bringers of fire who enabled steam locomotion, iron and steel production, engineering, railways and transcontinental shipping. The film is set in Northern England in the mid-80s and explores gender stereotypes, different social classes, the 1984 miner's strike and the use of police violence. The origins of the strike lay in the gradual rundown of the British coal industry, with the workforce falling from a peak of more than 1 million between the world wars to barely 200,000 at the start of the 1980s. With the decline in the demand for coal, numbers in the industry continued to fall and by the early 1980s membership of the NUM was under 250,000. Women and older children were used to move the tubs or wagons of coal out of the mines. What was the salary for a coal miner in the 1950s? Findmypast | + 4 more. Arthur Scargill, who had taken the president position of the NUM in 1982, saw the appointment as a threat to the coal industry following the methods MacGregor used for the steel industry. Gibson, A compilation of statistics of the coal mining industry . The worst insults were used against strike-breakers blacklegs, scabs and at the limit violence was used against them. 3.8. It was surprising to observe the amount of indifference which prevailed among the pitmen as to whether or not they and their families could be turned from their dwellings. TABLE 2 2. It should be noted that the NES data are provided for gross weekly pay and gross hourly pay (excluding overtime) only. By registering you get free access to our website and app (available on desktop AND mobile) which will help you to super-charge your learning process. The union will send out ballot papers to members next week and hope to implement the changes on 1 March. During the last thirty years over 10,000 men and boys have been killed and 25,000 have been injured in this industry. The working conditions of the mines and the long hours were difficult enough to endure without wages being reduced. From the 1960s, however, as pit closures set in, miners were redeployed to more efficient mines outside their area. In 1984, 20 pits were to close, with 20,000 jobs to go- but more were to be announced. From the start, Scargill was confident of victory. I were not used to it at first, and he had little patience. 16,779 per year . Explore public disorder in C20th Britain through police records. The first coal mine was sunk in Scotland, under the Firth of Forth in 1575. Womens Experiences at the First Coeducational College at the University of Oxford, Selected further resources for research and study, Co-curating diverse histories with Uncomfortable Oxford, Exploring Histories of Health and Medicine in Oxford, OUDCE (Oxford University Department for Continuing Education), Revelations: Black History in Portraiture. In 1870, The Cornish Telegraph published A Miners Song. In County Durham the focus is on Chester-le-Street, where the pits at Pelton Fell and South Pelaw closed in the 1960s but which acted as a turntable between the inland plateau and the coastal area. Miners were men; the only women employed at the pit were cooks, cleaners or office staff. What separate event occurred in 1973 that prompted the 1974 Miners' Strike? Edited highlights of the original programme. Proving his worth, Thatcher appointed MacGregor as head of the National Coal Board in 1983. It would take years and millions of pounds of investment before the situation in Grimethorpe was reversed. This figure includes overtime pay, bonuses etc., of full-time man aged 21 and over in all occupationsthat is manual and non-manual. The three-day working week came into force on 1st January 1974, affecting many businesses. At the end of 1981, the miners elected a new leader in the hard-left Yorkshireman Arthur Scargill, who made no secret of his eagerness for a confrontation with the government. The Monmouthshire Merlin reviewed the effects of the strike on not just the workers, but those around them. The strike had politicised mining families and encouraged many of them to become involved in other causes, to become local councillors or even MPs. By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. The coal industry was officially privatised. By the early 1980s the collieries were losing money.