Miners' and General Strikes
Great Britain 1921, 1926
Synopsis
Industrial relations in the mining industry had long been fraught with contention. Miners' conditions improved during World War I and the immediate postwar period, when the mines were taken under government control and the demand for coal was high. However, an economic slump beginning in 1920 and the return of the mines to private ownership (despite an apparent promise to retain public control) created bitter industrial conflict. A national miners' strike in 1920 ended in compromise. Strike action against wage cuts and local pay bargaining in 1921 failed and was marked on "Black Friday" by the collapse of the Triple Alliance (of the unions of miners, transport workers, and rail workers) and its promise of joint industrial action. In 1925 the threat of joint union action helped resist wage cuts that were ultimately averted by a nine-month government subsidy. The renewed threat of cuts in 1926, enforced by a miners' lock-out, led to the General Strike of May 1926, which was coordinated by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and involved some 1.8 million workers. Government resolution and the trade unions' lack of will or strategy to secure victory caused the strike to be called off after nine days.
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