Changes in Industrial Relations 1918/79 - A Changing Political and Economic Environment 1918 - 79

1918-1939

What was pattern of change within interwar relations?

—  The brief post war boom led to increasing disputes between trade unions and the government. This was a legacy of long term industrial neglect and the boom in workers joining trade unions.

—  The economic slump of the 1920s weakened the union position as many workers left the trade unions.

—  1921 Black Friday Strike

—  The General Strike of 1926 challenged government policy but failed.

—  Overall the period 1921 to 1939 was marked by comparatively low incidents of industrial action despite the 1930s being a period of hardship and unemployment for many in the traditional industrial heartlands.

What were the key changes in industry in the interwar period?

—  Much of the traditional industry was still rooted in Victorian Britain.

—  Iron ore and the coal industries in Scotland, south Wales and northern England were the key heavy industries.

—  By the interwar period, they were outdated, suffered from underinvestment and could not compete with foreign competitors.

—  The 1919 Sankey Commission recommended that government ownership of mines by continued after the war, yet mines where handed back to private ownership in 1921, wages soon fell.

—  The aftermath of the Great War saw demand for textiles and shipbuilding fall as rivals stepped in to the gap which Britain had left in the Great War and never relinquished their industrial position.

—  However, the interwar period saw the rise of modern industries, such as the motor industry and chemicals - these industries centred around the Midlands and the south east of England.

—  There was also the growth of light engineering companies which produced consumer goods: These industries used modern manufacturing techniques - unionism was weaker in these industries and the wages were better.

What was the impact of these changes in industry?

—  Many have argued about the emergence of ‘two Englands’ in this period which were differentiated by the older and newer industries.

—  They key changes with this development were –

–         The older industries lost a third of their workforce - unemployment 3 million in 1932, Jarrow

–         Those industries that made electrical appliances increased their workforce by 250%.

–         The service industries boomed.

–         The building industry expanded by 40%.

The 1926 General Strike

·       In March 1926, the Samuel Commission recommended radical restructuring of the coal industry, but also a pay cut for miners

·       Miners rejected the proposals - ‘Not a minute off the day, not a penny off the pay’

·       They called for TUC support in a strike

·       TUC entered talks with the government, hwever on the 2^nd May Baldwin called off talks and declared a state of emergency

·       On 3^rd May 3 million workers went on strike

·       However, 9 days later the general strike was over and the miners were left to strike on their own for a further 6 months without success

Why did the strike fail?

·       Not all workers were ready for a strike and did not coordinate their efforts

·       The government had been preparing for the strike since 1925 - thye had created the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies, a network of volunteers who stepped in to do essential jobs not done by striking workers

·       Churchill was put in charge of the government newspaper - The British Gazette - which he used to turn public opinion against the strike, and made clear to the TUC that the government would not be held hostage to strike action

·       The TUC limited violence during the strike - which made it easier for the government to handle

·       The strike was expensive for the TUC - costing £4million of its £12.5 million strike fund

·       A liberal politician offered the TUC an unofficial settlement - the Samuel Memorandum - promising and National Wage Board, wage subsidies and no wage cuts before the restructuring of mining. The TUC accepted this and called off the strike.

The failure of the strike led to the Trade Disputes Act in 1927 which made sympathetic strikes illegal. The TUC thus abandoned general strikes. Many men became disillusion with trade unions - TUC membership sank to its lowest in 1932. Working-class men began to look to Labour for better solutions.

What was the impact of the Great Depression on industrial relations?

—  Although unemployment never fell below one million in the interwar period – it rose to 3 million in 1932.

—  Much of this was long term unemployment - in 1929 5% of unemployed had been jobless for over a year, by 1932 this had risen to 16.4%

—  Mass unemployment led to a fall of union membership by almost 50% - from 8 million in 1922 to 4.5 million in 1932.

—  Against this backdrop, workers in the traditional heavy industries tended to fight harder for their jobs and pay. This was against employers wanting to make cuts and improve productivity.

—  In the middle of this the government tried to supply support for the unemployed, but did not have the resources to do this. Also, the government tended to side with the employer in trade disputes.

—  By 1939, traditional heavy industries were in terminal decline and working conditions remained poverty stricken.

1939-1964

Pattern of employment 1939-1964

·       WW2 lead to more employment opportunities like:

o   Move towards full employment as Britain engaged in a ‘total war’

o   More women in the workforce

o   Better working condition; improved healthcare, longer hours  but better wages

o   Control of Employment Act - semi-skilled workers could take on skilled jobs

o   Essential work order - forced people to do particular jobs, 8.5 million issued by government, made it difficult for workers to be fired, protected and defined essential jobs

·       The government’s commitment to full employment led to record low figures of unemployment in this period

·       There was particular growth in the ‘white collar’ industry because:

o   People on average had higher levels of income, this fuelled more demand for ‘luxury’ goods and services, like meals out, which created more jobs

o   Government increased spending on services like health care and education, creating more public sector jobs

o   White-collar jobs were more difficult to mechanise, and so weren’t lost to technological advances as much as ‘blue-collar’ jobs were

·       Traditional industries suffered and there were huge falls in the numbers of miners and shipwrights

·       Better education gave people greater mobility

·       Some workers enjoyed incentives like cheap canteens, subsidised outings and social clubs

Changes in Industrial Relations

WW2	·       There were some strikes during the war, over wages and hours ·       Bevin, a trade unionist, became Minister of Labour in 1940 o   Bevin promoted working relationships between unions and management o   Bevin Boys - young British men conscripted to work in the coal mines between 1943 and 1948. ·       1944 the government declared its long term responsibly for the maintenance of high employment ·       War led to inclusion of trade unionists in many government decision making bodies
Attlee government	·       Working with unions established as part of the consensus ·       Key industries nationalised ·       Trade unionist inclusion on the board of the nationalised Bank of England ·       Trade Disputes Act of 1927 repealed - giving the unions more power and making Labour more reliant on union funding ·       Conservatives industrial charter 1947 shows consensus views on cooperation with the unions and protecting labour rights ·
The 50s	·       Full employment and high trade union membership ·       Growth of prosperous trade union leader like Vic Feather and Jack Jones led to a distance between trade union members and their leaders ·       There was a growth in power of shop stewards, who would call unofficial ‘wildcat’ strikes o   They wanted a greater share in consumerism ·       Deteriorating relationship between the Conservatives and the TUC o   The number of strikers between 1955-1964 was double that of 1945-1950 ·       Growing divide between the workers and the middle class

1964-1979

Patterns in industrial relations

·       No. of wildcat strikes (i.e. unofficial strikes) increased - accounting for 90% of all strike action in the 60s - making union leadership seem weak and workers aggressive

·       Growing union militancy - caused by workers whose wages fell behind inflation, many felt left out of Britain’s increasing prosperity

·       Deteriorating relationships with the unions caused by persistent strikes and stagflation - which led to governments opposing wage restraints

·       Rising unemployment - unemployment 1 million in 1972

·       Tensions with the unions reach crisis point in the 70s - three day work week & winter of discontent

Wilson’s 1964-1970 government

Attitude towards unions:

–         Wilson projected image of an ‘ordinary bloke’ , often smoking a pipe, to attract union support,

–         Wilson attempted to have a close relationship with the unions, wanted to talk over industrial disputes with "beer and sandwiches at Number Ten" 

–         Passed Trade Disputes Act in 1965 restored certain legal immunities for TU’s

–         Barbara Castles 1969 ‘In place of strife’ proposed -

o   secret ballots before strikes become compulsory

o   a cooling off period of 90 days could be imposed at ministerial discretion

o   Fines be available for breaches of the law by union activists.

–         However ‘In place of strife’ was so unpopular with the unions it was never implemented

There was a National Seamen’s strike in 1966

Heath 1970-1974 government:

Attitude towards the unions:

–         Selsdon man wanted to limit the power of the unions and refuse to prop up failing industries

–         1971 Industrial Relations Act:

o   Placed limits of the rights to strike

o   Insisted unions had to place themselves on a government register

o   Established the National Industrial Relations Court to judge the legality of strike action

o   The act failed because unions refused to comply - the unions simply refused to register and the TUC mobilised a massive campaign of non-cooperation.

Notable strikes:

Year and event	What happened	Government response
1972 Nation Union of Miners (NUM) strike + 3 day work week	§  NUM demanded a 43% pay rise §  Government offers 8% §  200 000 miners went on strike	§  Government declared a state of emergency §  The government eventually offered a 27% pay rise
1974 NUM strike + 3 day work week	§  1973 oil crisis led to higher wage demands §  The NUM demanded a 35% pay rise	§  Government call a 3 day work week: o   Commercial electricity use limited to three days each week. o   Industry worked 3 days a week o   50mph driving limit o   Some schools close o   Television ended at 10:30 p.m. each night.   §  In 1974 - attempting to tackle the miners head on - Health calls an election with the slogan  ‘Who governs Britain’ - he loses.

Wilson & Callaghan 1974-1979 Government

Attitude toward unions:

·       Labour repealed the Industrial Relations Act and replaced it with a vague ‘Social Contract’ – a voluntary prices and wages control agreement.

·       Callaghan was determined to stick to a 5% limit to pay increases in 1978

Deteriorating relationships:

·       1978 a strike at Ford leads to a 17% raise for the workers - embarrassment for the government

·       3^rd January oil tankers and lorry driver strike, tanker drivers quickly win a pay rise and return to work - the lorry driver hold out for another 6 weeks. During this time they refuse to deliver goods and picket ports to stop supplies reaching industry, shops and hospitals - in response people began to panic buy

·       22^nd January strikes led to the ‘winter of discontent’

-        1.5 million public sector workers went on strike (they were protesting wage freezes - a condition of the IMF loan

-       Almost all school shut, as well as museums, libraries and other public buildings

-       Hospital staff went on strike and hospitals could only treat emergency patients

-       Rubbish went uncollected, piling up on the streets (famous pictures of Leicester square filled with rubbish bags)

-       In Liverpool, gravediggers strike and by end of Jan 225 corpses were in storage awaiting burial

-       Nearly 30 million workings days had been lost to strikes by the end of 1979

-       The government accepted defeat in Feb and allowed pay increases of 10-15%

Tabloid coverage of the winter of discontent exaggerated the chaos caused by the strike and turned public opinion firmly against the unions - 84% of the nation thought that trade unions had become too powerful.

Many now believed that the unions had to be stopped. Margaret Thatcher promised to tackle to union, and she won the 1979 election.