Key information

3 Industrial relations, 1939-79

- relationships between trade unions and the government underwent a transition during 1939-79; during the war they cooperated well but during the late 60s and the 70s the relationship became more agnostic which led to confrontations

WW2

- in may 1940 the support of the Labour Party allowed Winston Churchillto form a new National Government

- from a union point of viewhe most impotant member was Ernest Bevin; through the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 Bevin had almost complete control over the GB workforce

- Bevin had been the leader of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) and was seen as safe by Churchill as he preached moderation and co-operation; he fostered joint production committees in factories between workers and management to explore efficiency- saving techniques and piece rate bonuses to efficient workers

- skilled workers and union shop stewards became powerful during the war because of labour shortages and high demand for quality work

-Ernest Bevin was a working class politician and trade unionist. born in Somerset and worked as a lorry driver and labourer before becoming and involved politician. He was on the right of the Labour Party and suspicious of communism. Participated in the General Strike on 1926 but thought of it as a mistake. After his wartime service as minister of labour and national service he became foreign secretary and was regarded as one of the most talented statesmen in the post . died in 1951

-wartime strikes

- inaccurate view of the war years is that there was social peace and unity against the Nazi threats however the war created long antisocial hours, a lack of recognition and changeable pay packets which led numerous strikes and protest

- in 1940 the government introduced Defence Regulaion 58AA which banned strikes and lockouts

-miners

- in 1942 at Betteshanger in Kent, miners went on strike illegally, the government took over running the coal industry and prosecuted 1050 miners and fined them between £1-3 so other miners downed tools in solidarity which forced the Home Secretary to drop the charges and improve wages

- often younger miners or Bevin boy who were conscripted into the mines went on strike because they were angry about the lower rates they had compared to older miners; in south Wales coal fields alone there were 514 strikes between 1939 and 1944

- in spring 1944, 100000 Welsh miners went on unofficial strikes for better wages and the government quickly relented; in 1944 daily rate was £5 yet manufacturers wage was £6.10 shillings

Industrial relations, 1945-51

- during the war many had been appointed to numerous government bodies on wages, industry and social policy; this continued which meant union leaders had a say and were often heard

- in 1939 union leaders sat on 12 government committees but by 1949 they sat 60

- in 1945, 120 Labour MPs sponsored directly by the unions of which 26 became ministers and 6 sat in cabinet (inc. Ernest Bevin); between 1945-51 the TUC and Labour Party shared similar views

- labour repealed the 1927 Trades Dispute Act imposed after the General strike which restored the union movement

-the industrial charter

- in 1947 the Conservative Party carried out a review of the policies published in the Industrial Charter, the pamphlet was a clear indication that the party recognised that growing union membership and a widespread desire for a welfare state and fair treatment at work meant they had to adopt Labour's pro-union approach

- the charter expressed a desire by the party to see large unions that democratically represent the will of the members

- the Conservatives argued that a human relations approach was better than strike action; thought that trying to understand feelings would reduce discontent as a result of using a paternalist approach to protect everyone's interests

Industrial relations, 1951-64

- the 1950s was an era of high employment and high trade union membership

- a new prosperous union leadership emerged whose lifestyles were often different from their members; e.g. TUC secretaries Vic Feather and Len Murray lived affluent lives (but they did work long hours for their members) and had different expectations to members due to different experinces; Feather and Murray were not heavily influenced by post-war materialism as they started career in 30s-40s where as young members were as they started later on

- as a result of this members related more to the militant, unpaid op steward and some were even able to build power bases in their areas, allowing them to call strikes before official decisions despite having no constitutional rights and delaying/ not having negotiations with management

- due to shop stewards there would be a more aggressive confrontational series of union events in 60s-70s; attitude was focused on consumerism over socialism

-deterioration in relations

- Walter Monckton, Conservative minster of Labour attempted a conciliatory policy with unions but relations deteriorated

- 1945-54 ~1,751 strikes p.a. involving ~1/2 m workers but from 1955-64 ~2,521 involving ~1.1m workers

- growing perception of unionised men being lazy, obstructive and too powerful; unions blames; demonstrated by the popular film 'I'm Alright Jack' from 1959 which made shop stewards look like pompous, petty, bullies

Industrial relations, 1964-69

- in 1964, 13 years of Conservative political rule was swept away by Labour PM, Harold Wilson who understood the national mood; his persona (drinking beer, pipe smoking, wearing a mac and holidaying on the Scilly Isles) was designed to project an image popular to the trade unions but by the end of the decade was working against them

-wildcat strikes

- these are strikes that are not officially sanctioned by the unions/TUC and were popular in the period

- Wilson was reluctant to intervene however the wildcat movement was associated with the union movement and connected to the Labour Party making them look bad

- 90% of strike action was unofficial and the TUC couldn't control them

- average of 3m days lost a year in the 60s but in 1968 lept to 4.8m - The Times called it 'the year of the strike' ; e.g. Girling Brake Strike were there was a protest (walkout) other a worker from another union using their designated oil pump which led to 5000 workers being laid off and £M's being lost

-causes of militancy

- due to creeping inflation not satirised men from I'm Alright Jack

- the growth of affluence only benefited those warded with above inflation pay increases and most union members were frequently exempt; for many their pay increases were cancelled out by the inflation 1967-9

-in place of strife

- Wilson's relationship with the unions was good whilst he was arranging for the national wage to increase with price rises ; TUC invited to 10 Downing Street for beer and sandwiches at meetings

- the Conservative opposition led by Heath proposed union reform. in 1968 Wilson created his own policy knowing it could be an election winner.

- in 1969 Barbara Castle was tasked with the job of creating new laws to prevent wildcat strikes and limit union power

-striking only resulted in 0.1% of all working days being lost

- Barbara Castle created a white paper called in price of strife, proposed; governments could order a strike ballot before official industrial action took place if it was deemed a threat to the economy; workers in unofficial strikes led by militant shop stewards would be ordered back to work y the secretary of state for a 28 day cooling off period; unions fighting with each other in the workplace would go to an industrial board who would give a legally binding verdicts; strikes that broke these laws would be illegal and unions could face stiff fines and members possibly imprisoned

- widespread public support in Jan 1969 but unions opposed to it

- when James Callaghan (home secretary) opposed it and Wilson feared for his job and scrapped the legislation

Industrial relations, 1970-4

- Heath's Industrial Relations Act 1971 attempted to introduce all measures that Castle had proposed; due to soaring inflation it was ineffective as the TUC refused to cooperate and threatened unions with expulsion they did

- illegally striking shop stewards could now face prison but Heath's government hesitated to enforce its own new rules

-miners strike

- miners had already been consistently underpaid throughout the 60s; wages 3% lower than manufacturers; despite a period of increased living standards, home ownership, overseas holidays and mass consumerism, thousands of poorly paid miners felt they had been excluded from the nation's prosperity

- rising prices caused inflation during the 60s and early 70s made strike action more likely as miners saw their living standards decline

- throughout the 60s the GB coal industry had shrunk and the National Coal Board (NCB) had closed >400 pits and 420000 miners were made redundant; the National Union of Mineworkers (formed from the MFGB in 1945) was able to prevent some closing down in poor parts of the country by making low wage claims which was felt by the miners

- in 1970 the union voted for a 33% pay increase to put them on par with other industries

- the NUM leadership voted for strike action which required 2/3 majority but only 50% agreed to strike; led to many unofficial strikes over the north of England and south Wales

- the heath government imposed a pay policy that restricted possible pay rises to 8% in Dec 1971

- NUM changed the rules so only a 55% majority was needed and was achieved; the strike began Jan 1972

-flying pickets

- most high profile union member during the disputes was Arthur Scargill who was leader of the Barnsley Area Strike Committee; he developed the tactic of fly pickets using a group of 1000 miners to blockade power stations and coal depots

- in 1972 this reduced electricity output to 25%; Scargill had 40000 miner picket 500 separate sites causing Heath to fear widespread violence and loss of life

- unlike Baldwins government 1926 he was not prepared so when Scargill suceeded in shutting down the west Midlands gas board's Saltley coke depot in Birmingham the government offered a 27% pay rise

- who governs GB

- a second strike in winter of 1973-4 was called by NUM after realising the oil crisis of 1973 left GB dependent on coal; taken as an opportunity for a pay increase

- the strike meant that coal-fired power stations began to run on short supplies of coal and electricity production declined; this led to power cuts

- the government was forced to declare a state of emergency and order a 3 day working week between Jan and March 1974; all business were supplied with electricity for 3 days a week and employees forced to stay home the rest of the time

- in 1974 Heath went to the polls with the slogan 'who governs britain?' but the defeat of the conservatives showed the public had no confidence in their ability to deal with unions

Industrial relations 1974-9

- new Labour government repealed Heath's Industrial Relations Act and negotiated a new policy with the unions called a social contract; created as a voluntary code to prevent the need of formal incomes policy with specific limits on pay rises; relied on union bosses pursuading members to accept the pay restraint

- union bosses were/had become less influential against shop stewards

- difficult to ask members to stick to 6% pay rise when inflation was at 27%

- in 1975 the TUC agreed to pay increases of £6 a wekk to workers earning less than £8500; they accepted further limits in 1976 and rejected a motion at the 1976 TUC conference to end the social contract and return to free pay bargaining

- when wilson resigned in ill health in April 1976 he was succeeded by Callaghan and in 1978 Labour prospects seemed good

-the winter of discontent

- James Callaghan and his chancellor Denis Healey made tackling inflation a high priority

- by 1977 Healey believed that inflation was being brought back under control and that the social contract had run its course; he thought free bargaining could return but warned against 'greedy' unions

- the following year he was forced to backtrack as inflation soared once again and he enforced a strict 5% pay increase for low paid workers

- resulted a winter of strike action in 1978-9 that the government was powerless to prevent

-ford pay negotations

- ford the care manufacturing giant attempted to enforce the governments pay policy; in response to 15000 autoworkers went on strike on 22nd September

- the strike was unofficial when it began but by 5th October the TGWU had endorsed it which led to the other Ford workers striking, total of 57000 workers

- ford offered a 17% pay rise which meant they incurred government penalties showed the social contract was unenforceable

- the left of the Labour Party also sabotaged the social contract, voting through a motion at the party conference in October that the government stop intervening in pay negotiations between workers and management

-haulage strike

- government now had no way of enforcing pay restraints and the union seized the opportunity to gain pain increases

- in Dec 1978 lorry drivers began an overtime ban demanding a 40% pay rise

- Callaghan was reluctant to declare a state of emergency as Heath had done even though it would allow the army to fill their positions

- the TGWU picketed oil refineries, meaning that petrol could not reach schools, hospitals and homes; this was worsened by one of the longest, coldest winters since 1947

-public sector strike

- on Jan 1979 millions of low paid public employees went on strike as public sector unions, such as the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE), tried to ensure that their members got the same pay rises as employees in the private sector

- more than 1/3 of public sector employees took home £40 a week and public sector unions demanded it rise to £60

- the nurses union, The Royal College of Nursing, demanded a 25% wage rise nurses

- public sector unions began to lose control over their members, who declared strike action in vital services such as the ambulance service and 99 emergency telephone lines

- The British press reported that cancer patients had to use the London Underground to get to hospital appointments

- in Jan grave diggers went on strike and while only a few (80) went on strike the newspapers printed full page stories of mortuaries filling with unburied bodies and potentially having to bury bodies at sea

- another visual example of the chaos strikes was the mountains of rubbsh in the city centre caused by refuse collectors going on strike

- the government offered a 11% pay increase and tried to negotiate directly with unions but realised the union no longer had control

- strikes ended when members got their pay rise or eventually decided to return anyway

-shifting public attitudes

- main consequence of the winter of discontent was a dramatic shift in public attitudes against the trade union movement

- 1969 60% of people had said they had positive views of unions but in 1979 only 20% did

1c: Change and challenge in the workplace