Thatcherism & Society

Thatcherism & Society

1. Trade Union Policy

   • Employment Act 82
     • restricts def of lawful strike to one wholly between workers & employers
       • those in sympathy with other workers became illegal
     • made closed shops difficult to sustain
       • workers dismissed for not being union entitled to high levels of comp
         • TUC in Dec 83 told small NGA that it would not support strike
           • NGA wanted to continue with strike in support of closed shop even after high court said it was illegal
     • Tebbit's
   • Trade Union Act 84
     • postal ballots every 5 years for all union offices
       • but govt subsidised holding of ballots
   • TU & Employment Acts 88
     • workers could no longer be disciplined for working during strike
     • TU's legal immunity from prosecution for damages due to strikes only sustained if secret ballot showed majority members supported strike action
   • Macmillan: 'TU movement no Tory should ever tangle with'

2. Miners strike 84-5

   • Evans: 'coal miners traditional elite' 'industrial muscle was legendary'
   • appointed free marketeer Ian MacGregor as chairman NCB in Sept 83
     • previously been success at British steel
       • had cuts from from 166k in 80 to 71k in 83
     • began stockpiling coal & preparing imports
       • wanted a fight?
       • Peter Walker, Energy Secretary, secured national grid & forbade electricity board from reducing voltage - trying to not show weakness
       • imports even from communist countries
   • Pres of NUM Arthur Scargill thought defeat would result in rapid closure & eroding of community
     • failed to hold ballot, lost moral authority
       • Sept 84 High Court prevented NUM calling strike official
         • On Oct Union assets in Eng/Wales sequestrated as they defied this ruling
     • NUM called strike April 84
       • against pit closures, especially Cortonwood in south Yorkshire
         • & for vastly increased wage
         • support for strike initially solid even in moderate areas such as Lancashire & Durham
           • federal structure of NUM used so different areas could strike due to lack of national ballot
             • 3 March Jack Taylor + Scargill held NUM Yorkshire meeting & used NEC rule 41 to authorise strike action
           • Scotland + Yorkshire areas did vote on 8 March
         • in March 84
         • official plans to close 20 in 84
           • secret govt doc said 95 pits with 100k lost jobs
       • first since 26
   • Evans think Thatcher won in 3 March 85 due to mild winter & moderate breakaway union in profitable East Midlands area
     • Nottinghamshire, only 3k/40k miners striked
   • Kinnock distanced himself
     • Scargill was a marxist
       • had succeeded moderate Joe Gormley in 82 with 70% vote
         • shows miners anger
       • accepted money from Qadaffi
   • Thatcher: 'British coal industry could not remain immune to economic forces'
     • Print Workers strike in defence of closed shop defeated in 86
       • Murdochs Wapping Plant Jan 86
   • NUM lost 72% members 79-86
     • Union members as a whole fell from 13.5mil in 79 to 10.5mil in 86 & below 10mil by 90
       • Welsh pits had less than 5k workers by 89
         • Scot + Lanc only 3k
         • Militant Kent pits shit down with Snowdon & Tilmanston pits
     • fell to 60k by 89
     • lost auto right to seat on Labour's NEC
   • 18 June 84 violant clashes at Orgreave coking depot in Rotherham
     • National Reporting Centre & latitude given to police
     • Notorious BBC TV News coverage
       • shows picket hurling missiles at police then police cav charge but it actually was in vice versa order
     • no one convicted or charged
     • miners wanted to stop lorries carrying coke to fuel Scunthorpe steel furnaces
     • 6000 officers, orders to use loads of forces
       • 'short shield' offensive tactics
         • 70 police injured
       • 5000 miners
     • 95 arrested - 'word for word' paperwork by officers
       • Derek Smith led corrupting statement detective team
     • Chief constable Peter Wright wanted serious charges of riot
       • up to 25 years in prison
         • trial collapsed due to forged signatures & photographs not matching up with police account
     • Home Sec Brittan & Thatcher discussed accelerating prosecutions & giving greater publicity
   • govt close to defeat in Nov 84 when pit deputies union NACODS almost striked
     • would mean safety procedures would be cancelled so all pits would be scrapped
     • Oct 84 Economist said Thatcher wouldn't outright win
       • But NACODs inexplicably accepted review procedure
         • Scargill blames them for loss of 164 pits
     • 82% members supported
   • Nottinghamshire pits continued to operate despite mass picket intimidation
     • new TU: UDM 30k members
     • Early Jan 85 71/187k miners back at work
     • violence largely directed against working miners
       • 1000 miners sacked & 206 in Scotland
   • Start 85 Walker announced there would be no power cuts
   • General strike never on agenda as TUC Gen Sec Willis got bad treatment from miners
   • Coal no longer as important
     • employed on 150k & supplied a fifth of energy
       • challenged by nuclear power!
   • NCB provided financial incentives to strike breakers
     • Govt spent 6bil in lost production, tax rev, coal stocks & oil power, policing
     • NCB would have only cost govt 100mil that year...
       • Lawson called it a 'worthwhile investment' for wider aims
   • goal was to impose economic costs on govt to force u-turn
     • but dispensations were agreed which British steel exceeded
   • only allies were marginalised groups e.g. Greenham Women & gays
   • 142k miners at its height
   • 1st Nov 83, overtime ban led to 30% reduction in output
   • 65% public support govt/police

3. 80-1 Events

   • Thatcher wanted NCB to be self-financing by 84
     • ambitious as increasing unemp to 3mil by 82 decreased demand for electric
     • pits must be closed to fit demand, 4 mil unwanted capacity
       • in challenging geographical areas
   • Feb 81 miners joined unofficial strikes vs. NCB plans to cut production by 10%
     • Govt reliant on NCB coal so relaxed cash limits
       • Govt stockpiled NCB coal & trends to alternative energy accelerated
   • 83, Monopolies & Mergers commission recommends 10% cut in capacity
     • NUM claims secret hit list to close 75 pits with loss of 64k jobs in 3 years
       • this list was actually discussed on 15th Sept 83 with Walker, Tebbit, Thatcher & Lawson
   • Before MacGregor's appointment NCB managers such as Wheeler for Scottish area were pio-neering anti union methods
     • he closed several pits 82/3 & told pit managers to leave workplace agreements with TU's
       • had already meant 50% Scottish miners were in dispute
       • At Polaise miners were on strike before Cottonwood announcement
   • NCB had already cut jobs from 700k to 300k but NUM accepted as they promised to invest in new gen of sustainable pits
     • + Lab govts 64-70 subsidised manufacturing industry setting up in former pit areas

4. Sale of Council Houses

   • Housing Act 80
     • tenants right to buy
       • discount of 33-50% depending on how long they had lived there
       • Pimlott: 'would have happened anyway'
   • by 88 2mil new homeowners
   • was first proposed by Horace Cutler leader of GLC in late 60s
   • mainly sold in better off areas
   • councils ordered to use profits to reduce debts not build new council housing
     • home available for rent reduced
     • expensive B&B accom

5. Poll Tax

   • ensures everyone contributes
     • councils more accountable & efficient
   • Scotland in 89
     • England/Wales 90
   • in some areas up to 30% were non payers, authorities couldn't enforce & anti-poll tax unions provided legal aid
   • March 90 demo in Trafalgar Square, 200k people attended
     • 5000 infjured
     • 300 arrests
   • Families on less than 1/2 avg salary up from 5mil 79 to 14.1mil 92
     • but real earnings up 2.8% in 80s vs. 0.5% in 70s
       • avg income up 37% 79-92
     • real incomes up 10% increased 61%, poorest 10% fell by 18%

6. Education & The Arts

   • Feb 85 Oxford voted against by 3 to 1 giving Thatcher an honorary degree, had given one to every Oxford-educated post war PM
     • because of higher ed spending cuts
       • but no. uni students increased 535k to 710k from 81 to 89
       • 79-86 spending on schools reduced 10% real terms
         • nat curric 88, GCSEs to reduce diff between bright students & not
           • league tables
             • residential zoning & house price
       • 81 - 18% cut in uni funding over 3 years started
     • University Funding Council led by former Cambridge don Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer threatened financial cuts
     • 85 Jarratt report imposed new managerial structures
   • Artistic establishment despised thatcher due to cuts in arts subsidies
     • playwrights such as David Hare
     • private funding allowed for less artistic experimentation
     • Financial crisis for Tate Gallery in London
       • but others like Barbican theatre in central Ldn opened
     • BBC in rows with govt over funding, due to anti-govt reporting of Libyan bombing of 86 covered by Kate Adie
       • govt banned interviews with Sinn Fein
       • commercial TV rivalry for BBC
         • cutbacks in overseas news dept
   • Red Wedge Musical collective with Madness & Paul Weller
   • alternative comedians like Ben Elton
   • Boys from the Blackstuff was a black comedy on hand to mouth existence of some workers, coined phrase 'gizzajob'
   • Murdoch takes over Sun/Times
     • strong Thatcher press support
     • newcomer Independent +ve
   • Govt prefered cost effective Polytechnics

7. The Church

   • report in 85 called Faith in the City, called on govt to do more to help deprived areas & bishops e.g. Jenkins in Durham & Sheppard in Liverpool were critical of impact of Thatcherite Policies
     • Jenkins criticised miners strike (Thatchers reaction)
     • Archbishop Runcie condemned Jingo Spirit of Falklands war

8. Pressure Groups

   • Sheltler & Age Concern, CND, USSR new Phase
   • Greenham women
     • 79, US stations US cruise missiles at UK bases
     • CND organises mass protests
     • Sept 81 women set up camp outside Greenham Common Base
       • stayed for 19 years
         • missiles left in 91
     • April 83, due to arrive, 70k protesters formed 14mile human chain from Greenham to Aldermaston
     • in 84 Newsbury local council evicted camp & demolished it
       • women returned after dark & rebuilt
   • Enviromentalism
     • Dec 84 Bhopal Gas leak India kills 3k-8k & causes many more long term health issues
     • Chernobyl nuclear accident USSR in April 86 1000s got cancers
     • CFCs depleted ozone layer so harmful radiation was accepted into earth, UN Montreal Protocol in 87 phased out treaty - ratified by 09

9. Law & order: 79-82, extra 10k police & 'short, sharp, shock, treatment for young offenders + prison rebuilding programme

   • crime increased 5-7% year, car theft, burglary, vandalism
   • spending on justice up from 2bil 79/80 to 3.9bil 84/5

10. % familes with phones 62-85% & those with central heating 54-77%