81-614: The Wakefield Express is the newspaper serving the City of Wakefield district in West Yorkshire , England . It was established in 1852 and was the subject of a centenary film directed by Lindsay Anderson in 1952. The newspaper is owned by National World and edited by Mark Bradley. After 155 years of publication as a broadsheet , it changed to a tabloid format in March 2007. The newspaper summarises content from other local newspapers such as
162-551: A Special National Delegate Conference was held where there was a vote on whether to hold a national ballot or not. The NUM delegates voted 69–54 not to have a national ballot, a position argued for by Arthur Scargill. Scargill states: "Our special conference was held on 19 April. McGahey , Heathfield and I were aware from feedback that a slight majority of areas favoured the demand for a national strike ballot; therefore, we were expecting and had prepared for that course of action with posters, ballot papers and leaflets. A major campaign
243-501: A ballot from January 1981, in which 85.6% of the members voted to strike if any pit was threatened with closure on economic grounds. The motion was passed with regard to the closure of Orgreave Colliery, which prompted a two-week strike. The NUM executive approved the decision in Yorkshire to invoke the ballot result as binding on 8 March 1984. Nicholls ruled that the 1981 ballot result was "too remote in time [with]... too much change in
324-472: A decentralised regional structure and certain regions were seen as more militant than others. Scotland, South Wales and Kent were militant and had some communist officials, whereas the Midlands were much less militant. The only nationally coordinated actions in the 1984–1985 strike were the mass pickets at Orgreave . In the more militant mining areas, strikebreakers were reviled and never forgiven for betraying
405-576: A decisive victory for the Conservative government and allowed the closure of most of Britain's collieries (coal mines). Many observers regard the strike as "the most bitter industrial dispute in British history". The number of person-days of work lost to the strike was over 26 million, making it the largest since the 1926 General Strike . The journalist Seumas Milne said of the strike that "it has no real parallel – in size, duration and impact – anywhere in
486-673: A farmer and property developer with libertarian political beliefs, did much to organise and fund working miners. On 25 May, a writ issued in the High Court by Colin Clark from Pye Hill Colliery, sponsored by Hart, was successful in forbidding the Nottinghamshire area from instructing that the strike was official and to be obeyed. Similar actions were successful in Lancashire and South Wales. In September, Lord Justice Nicholls heard two cases, in
567-518: A minority voted in favour, well short of the required 55% majority. In protest at a pay offer of 5.2%, the NUM instituted an overtime ban in November 1983, which remained in place at the onset of the strike. Thatcher expected Scargill to force a confrontation, and in response she set up a defence in depth. She believed that the excessive costs of increasingly inefficient collieries had to end in order to grow
648-517: A national ballot was reduced from two-thirds in favour to 55% in 1971. There was then success in the national strike in 1972 , an overtime ban, and the subsequent strike in 1974 (which led to the Three-Day Week ). The NUM's success in bringing down the Heath government demonstrated its power, but it caused resentment at their demand to be treated as a special case in wage negotiations. The NUM had
729-566: A nature reserve." Two children's nursery rhymes with Wakefield connections are " Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush " which may have been sung by women inmates at Wakefield prison . and " The Grand Old Duke of York " which may allude to the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, referring to Richard Plantagenet , the 3rd Duke of York. The lyrics of the popular hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers" were written at St Peter's Church in nearby Horbury. The area
810-525: A result of the " demonstration effect " and trade union power in general diminished. Three deaths resulted from events related to the strike. The much-reduced coal industry was privatised in December 1994, ultimately becoming UK Coal . In 1983, Britain had 175 working pits, all of which had closed by the end of 2015. Poverty increased in former coal mining areas, and in 1994 Grimethorpe in South Yorkshire
891-453: A six-month supply of coal to win a strike. In 1982, NUM members accepted a 9.3% pay rise, rejecting their leaders' call for a strike. Most pits proposed for closure in 1981 were closed on a case-by-case basis by the colliery review procedure, and the NCB cut employment by 41,000 between March 1981 and March 1984. The effect of closures was lessened by transfers to other pits and the opening up of
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#1733092799803972-452: A speech to the NUM conference in Perth on 4 July 1983: "A fight back against this Government's policies will inevitably take place outside rather than inside Parliament. When I talk about 'extra-parliamentary action' there is a great outcry in the press and from leading Tories about my refusal to accept the democratic will of the people. I am not prepared to accept policies elected by a minority of
1053-489: A strike, a compromise would probably have been forced on the NCB. Files later made public showed that the government had an informant inside the Trades Union Congress (TUC), passing information about negotiations. In 2009, Scargill wrote that the settlement agreed with NACODS and the NCB would have ended the strike and said, "The monumental betrayal by NACODS has never been explained in a way that makes sense." In
1134-467: A target for aggressive and sometimes violent picketing as Scargill's pickets tried to stop local miners from working. Lancashire miners were reluctant to strike, but most refused to cross picket lines formed by the Yorkshire NUM. Picketing in Lancashire was less aggressive and is credited with a more sympathetic response from the local miners. The ' Battle of Orgreave ' took place on 18 June 1984 at
1215-483: A two-week local strike over the closure of Orgreave Colliery , but the ballot result was later invoked to justify strikes over other closures, including Cortonwood in 1984. In February 1981, the government announced plans to close 23 pits across the country but the threat of a national strike was enough to force a back down. Coal stocks would last only six weeks, after which Britain would shut down and people would demand concessions. Thatcher realised she needed at least
1296-477: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . City of Wakefield Wakefield , also known as the City of Wakefield , is a local government district with city status and a metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire , England. Wakefield , the largest settlement, is the administrative centre of the district. The population of the City of Wakefield at the 2011 Census was 325,837. The district includes
1377-566: Is served by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire received from the Emley Moor TV transmitter. The radio stations that broadcast to the area are: The area is served by the local newspaper, Wakefield Express . A decision was made, in 2004, to transfer the district's extensive council housing to Wakefield and District Housing (WDH), an 'independent' housing association, who would be more efficient with repairs and maintaining decent accommodation; as council housing represented almost 30% of
1458-598: Is the longest continuous horse racing circuit in Europe at 2 miles 125 yards (3,333 m; 16.57 furlongs). The ruins of Sandal Castle and its visitor centre are open to the public, overlooking the Pugneys Country Park . The National Coal Mining Museum for England (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage ), the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Nostell Priory are within
1539-703: Is up for election at any one time. Exceptions include by-elections and ward boundary changes. The city district is home to three professional rugby league clubs, the Wakefield Trinity , Castleford Tigers who both play in the Super League and Featherstone Rovers who play in the Kingstone Press Championship . All three have had periods of success. The city also has several amateur rugby league clubs including Featherstone Lions and Normanton Knights . Current England rugby league internationals from
1620-529: Is within a green belt region that extends into the surrounding counties that is in place to reduce urban sprawl , prevent the cities and towns in the West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation from convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve the countryside. It restricts inappropriate development within the designated areas and imposes stricter conditions on permitted building. Green belt surrounds
1701-628: The Pontefract & Castleford Express . The newspaper launched its "Read On" literacy campaign in 2006, prompted by statistics which showed that over 1,700 Wakefield adults cannot read. The campaign was backed by Tony Blair and Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding , and organised a Wakefield Book Day in March 2007 and provided reading material for primary school leavers worth £10,000. The campaign culminated at an event in Wakefield Cathedral . This United Kingdom newspaper–related article
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#17330927998031782-619: The Five Towns of Castleford , Featherstone , Knottingley , Normanton and Pontefract . Other towns include Hemsworth , Horbury , Ossett , South Elmsall and South Kirkby (also forms the civil parish of South Kirkby and Moorthorpe ). The city and district are governed by Wakefield Council from the County Hall . In 2010, Wakefield was named as the UK's third most musical city by PRS for Music . The economic and physical condition of several of
1863-743: The Selby Coalfield where working conditions and wages were relatively favourable. Localised strikes occurred at Kinneil Colliery in Scotland and Lewis Merthyr Colliery in Wales. The industry's Select Committee heard that 36,040 of the 39,685 redundancies between 1973 and 1982 were of men aged 55 and over, and redundancy pay was increased substantially in 1981 and 1983. The NUM balloted its members for national strikes in January 1982, October 1982 and March 1983 regarding pit closures and restrained wages and each time
1944-523: The urban districts of Featherstone , Hemsworth , Horbury , Knottingley , Normanton and Stanley , along with Wakefield Rural District and parts of Hemsworth Rural District and Osgoldcross Rural District . The new metropolitan district 's city status was reconfirmed by letters patent in 1974. The Council's headquarters is County Hall , originally built for the West Riding County Council and acquired by Wakefield in 1989. The district
2025-489: The 1972 agreement which led to a second ballot. MacGregor suggested that deputies could be replaced by outsiders as Ronald Reagan had done during the 1981 airline strike . In September, for the first time, NACODS voted to strike with a vote of 81% in favour. The government then made concessions over the review procedure for unprofitable collieries, much to the anger of MacGregor, and a deal negotiated by North Yorkshire NCB Director Michael Eaton persuaded NACODS to call off
2106-596: The 1984 strike. The former Borough of Wakefield was raised to city status by letters patent in 1888. It became a county borough in 1913, taking it out of the jurisdiction of the West Riding County Council. The present boundaries were set in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 , when the County Borough of Wakefield merged with the West Riding municipal boroughs of Castleford , Ossett and Pontefract ,
2187-402: The British electorate. I am not prepared quietly to accept the destruction of the coal industry, nor am I willing to see our social services decimated. This totally undemocratic Government can now easily push through whatever laws it chooses. Faced with possible parliamentary destruction of all that is good and compassionate in our society, extra-parliamentary action will be the only course open to
2268-514: The NCB announced that the agreement reached after the 1974 strike was obsolete, and that to reduce government subsidies, 20 collieries would close with a loss of 20,000 jobs. Many communities in Northern England , Scotland and Wales would lose their primary source of employment. Scargill said the government had a long-term strategy to close more than 70 pits. The government denied the claim and MacGregor wrote to every NUM member claiming Scargill
2349-550: The NCB. The calculation of these operating losses was disputed, with the Marxist historian John Saville declaring costs other than operating losses were included in the data as part of a scheme to undermine trade unions. By 1984, the richest seams of coal had been increasingly worked out and the remaining coal was more and more expensive to reach. The solution was mechanisation and greater efficiency per worker, making many miners redundant due to overcapacity of production. The industry
2430-669: The NUM funds, except in Scotland, because the judges deemed that the Scottish area had acted within the rules of the Union" – David Hamilton MP, Midlothian. Scargill claims "It was essential to present a united response to the NCB and we agreed that, if the coal board planned to force pit closures on an area by area basis, then we must respond at least initially on that same basis. The NUM's rules permitted areas to take official strike action if authorised by our national executive committee in accordance with Rule 41." The Nottinghamshire NUM supported
2511-488: The NUM was led by Arthur Scargill , a militant trade unionist and socialist, with strong leanings towards communism. Scargill was a vocal opponent of Thatcher's government. In March 1983, he stated "The policies of this government are clear – to destroy the coal industry and the NUM". Scargill wrote in the NUM journal The Miner : "Waiting in the wings, wishing to chop us to pieces, is Yankee steel butcher MacGregor. This 70-year-old multi-millionaire import, who massacred half
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2592-600: The NUM's support for the regional strikes in Yorkshire and Scotland, and called for action from NUM members in all other areas but decided not to hold a nationwide vote which was used by his opponents to delegitimise the strike. The strike was almost universally observed in South Wales , Yorkshire , Scotland , North East England and Kent , but there was less support across the Midlands and in North Wales. Nottinghamshire became
2673-459: The NUM. Unlike Nottinghamshire, the leadership in Leicestershire never attempted to enforce the strike, and an official, Jack Jones, had publicly criticised Scargill. At some pits in Nottinghamshire – Ollerton, Welbeck and Clipstone – roughly half the workforce stayed in the NUM. The TUC neither recognised nor condemned the new union. The UDM was eventually de facto recognised when
2754-631: The National Coal Board. He had turned the British Steel Corporation from one of the least efficient steel-makers in Europe to one of the most efficient, bringing the company into near profit. Success was achieved at the expense of halving the workforce in two years and he had overseen a 14-week national strike in 1980. His tough reputation raised expectations that coal jobs would be cut on a similar scale and confrontations between MacGregor and Scargill seemed inevitable. On 19 April 1984
2835-544: The Orgreave Coking Plant near Rotherham , which striking miners were attempting to blockade. The confrontation, between about 5,000 miners and the same number of police, broke into violence after police on horseback charged with truncheons drawn – 51 picketers and 72 policemen were injured. Other less well known, but bloody, battles between pickets and police took place, for example, in Maltby, South Yorkshire . During
2916-573: The UK's economy. The mining industry was effectively a closed shop . Although not official policy, employment of non-unionised labour would have led to a mass walkout of mineworkers. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) came into being in 1945 and in 1947 most collieries in Britain were nationalised (958 nationalised, 400 private). Demand for coal was high in the years following the Second World War, and Polish refugees were drafted to work in
2997-464: The Wakefield built up area and stretches into the wider borough and outlying towns and villages. Walton , Netherton , Featherstone , South Kirkby , South Elmsall , Hemsworth , Castleford , Knottingley , and Pontefract are surrounded by it. Smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas such as Warmfield and Heath , Stanley Ferry , Newmillerdam , Snydale, Wintersett , and Chapelthorpe are included in
3078-466: The Wakefield metropolitan area, as is Walton Hall , a Georgian mansion set in what was the world's first nature reserve, created by the explorer Charles Waterton ; the house is now a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sir David Attenborough has stated that "Walton Hall is an extremely important site in the history of nature conservation worldwide. It is, arguably, the first tract of land anywhere in modern times to be protected, guarded and maintained as
3159-621: The Yorkshire Area, which was later challenged in court. The NUM President, Arthur Scargill , made the strike official across Britain on 12 March 1984, but the lack of a national ballot beforehand caused controversy. The NUM strategy was to cause a severe energy shortage of the sort that had won victory in the 1972 strike . The government strategy, designed by Margaret Thatcher , was threefold: to build up ample coal stocks, to keep as many miners at work as possible, and to use police to break up attacks by pickets on working miners. The critical element
3240-678: The area include; Tom Briscoe , Rob Burrow , Zak Hardaker , and Brett Ferres . The district is also home to two clubs in the Northern Premier League : Ossett United and Pontefract Collieries . The district has a strong heritage of cricket with former Yorkshire and England captain Geoffrey Boycott born in Fitzwilliam and former Yorkshire and England cricketer Tim Bresnan from Pontefract . Pontefract Racecourse in Pontefract ,
3321-551: The branch membership of the Area since then for that ballot to be capable of justifying a call to strike action two and a half years later." He ruled that the Yorkshire area could not refer to the strike as "official", although he did not condemn the strike as "illegal" as he did in the case of the national strike and the North Derbyshire strike. Scargill referred to the ruling as "another attempt by an unelected judge to interfere in
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3402-510: The coal-mining industry continued to fall from 180,000 in 1985 to 70,000 in the year 2000. Coal mining, nationalised by Clement Attlee 's Labour government in 1947, was managed by the National Coal Board (NCB) under Ian MacGregor in 1984. As in most of Europe, the industry was heavily subsidised. In 1982–1983, the operating loss per tonne was £3.05, and international market prices for coal were about 25% cheaper than that charged by
3483-536: The community. In 1984, some pit villages had no other industries for many miles around. In South Wales , miners showed a high degree of solidarity, as they came from isolated villages where most workers were employed in the pits, had similar lifestyles, and had an evangelical religious style based on Methodism that led to an ideology of egalitarianism. The dominance of mining in these local economies led Oxford professor Andrew Glyn to conclude that no pit closure could be beneficial for government revenue. From 1981,
3564-436: The crossing of picket lines even without a NACODS union vote for strike action. Initially the threshold for striking was not met; although a majority had voted for strike action, it was not enough. However, later during the strike 82% did vote for strike action. In January 1981, the Yorkshire area of the NUM held a successful ballot to approve strike action over any pit threatened with closure on economic grounds. This led to
3645-408: The designation. The green belt was adopted in 1987, and in 2017 amounted to some 23,500 hectares (235 km ; 91 sq mi). The district is divided into 21 wards , each represented on Wakefield Metropolitan District Council by three councillors. Councillors are elected on a first past the post basis, usually for a four-year period which is staggered so that only one councillor per ward
3726-534: The district, this was the second-largest stock transfer in British history. WDH are investing over £700 million to regenerate the District and working with partners, such as WMDC, are investing in new housing within the District. 53°40′59″N 1°29′56″W / 53.683°N 1.499°W / 53.683; -1.499 1984%E2%80%931985 United Kingdom miners%27 strike Arthur Scargill Ian MacGregor The 1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike
3807-493: The district. By the time the 1984 Strike began this had decreased to 15, however it still had more collieries than any other district in the country. At the time of privatization in November 1994, only two remained: the Prince of Wales at Pontefract, which closed in 2002, and Kellingley at Knottingley which closed in 2015 ending the industry that once dominated the district. Most of the district's pits had been very hardline during
3888-451: The economy. She planned to close inefficient pits and depend more on imported coal, oil, gas and nuclear. She appointed hardliners to key positions, set up a high level planning committee, and allocated funds from the highly profitable electrical supply system to stockpile at least six months' worth of coal. Thatcher's team set up mobile police units so that forces from outside the strike areas could neutralise efforts by flying pickets to stop
3969-470: The executive voted for him to do so. By the end of January 1985, around £5 million of NUM assets had been recovered. A Court of Session decision in Edinburgh ruled that Scottish miners had acted within their rights by taking local ballots on a show of hands and so union funds in Scotland could not be sequestered. "During the strike, the one area they couldn't touch was Scotland. They were sequestering
4050-525: The first month of the strike, the NCB secured a court injunction to restrict picketing in Nottinghamshire, but the Energy Minister , Peter Walker forbade MacGregor from invoking it as the government considered it would antagonise the miners and unite them behind the NUM. Legal challenges were brought by groups of working miners, who subsequently organised as the Working Miners' Committee. David Hart ,
4131-479: The first, North Derbyshire miners argued that the strike was illegal both at area level, as a majority of its miners had voted against, and at national level, as there had been no ballot. In the second, two miners from Manton Colliery , in the Yorkshire area but geographically in North Nottinghamshire, argued that the area-level strike in Yorkshire was illegal. Miners at Manton had overwhelmingly voted against
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#17330927998034212-595: The former mining towns and villages in Wakefield District have started to improve due to the booming economy of Leeds – and an increase in numbers of commuters to the city from the sub-region – and a recognition of undeveloped assets. For instance Castleford , to the North East of Wakefield is seeing extensive development and investment because of the natural asset of its outlook on to the River Aire , its easy access to
4293-528: The miners. Sensitive to the impact of proposed closures, miners in various coalfields began strike action. In Yorkshire , miners at Manvers , Cadeby , Silverwood , Kiveton Park and Yorkshire Main were on unofficial strike for other issues before official action was called. More than 6,000 miners were on strike from 5 March at Cortonwood and Bullcliffe Wood, near Wakefield. Neither pit's reserves were exhausted. Bullcliffe Wood had been under threat, but Cortonwood had been considered safe. Action
4374-490: The national motorway network and the availability of former mining land for house-building. In Ossett, house prices have risen from an average of £50,000 in 1998 to £130,000 in 2003. Although unemployment was amongst the highest in the country for most of the 1980s, and 1990s, Wakefield District now has below-average unemployment. The "Wakefield East" ward had 4.7% unemployment in May 2005 (source: Office for National Statistics )—which
4455-560: The pits. Over time, coal's share in the energy market declined relative to oil and nuclear. Large-scale closures of collieries occurred in the 1960s, which led to migration of miners from the run-down coalfields (Scotland, Wales, Lancashire, the north-east of England) to Yorkshire and the Midlands coalfields. After a period of inaction from the NUM leadership over employment cuts, there was an unofficial strike in 1969 , after which many more militant candidates were elected to NUM leadership. The threshold for endorsement of strike action in
4536-455: The power of the trade unions . The NUM was divided over the action, which began in Yorkshire , and some mineworkers, especially in the Midlands , worked through the dispute. Few major trade unions supported the NUM, primarily using the argument of the absence of a vote at national level. Violent confrontations between flying pickets and police characterised the year-long strike, which ended in
4617-563: The same as the attitude of the working class in Germany when the Nazis came to power. It does not mean that because at some stage you elect a government that you tolerate its existence. You oppose it". He also said he would oppose a second-term Thatcher government "as vigorously as I possibly can". After the election, Scargill called for extra-parliamentary action against the Conservative government in
4698-465: The steel workforce in less than three years, is almost certainly brought in to wield the axe on pits. It's now or never for Britain's mineworkers. This is the final chance – while we still have the strength – to save our industry". On 12 May 1983, in response to being questioned on how he would respond if the Conservatives were re-elected in the general election , Scargill replied: "My attitude would be
4779-526: The strike action. The results of the review procedure were not binding on the NCB, and the NUM rejected the agreement. Reviews for Cadeby in Yorkshire and Bates in Northumberland concluded that the pits could stay open but the NCB overruled and closed them. The abandonment of strike plans when most of their demands had not been met led to conspiracy theories on the motives of NACODS leaders. MacGregor later admitted that if NACODS had gone ahead with
4860-537: The strike, 11,291 people were arrested, mostly for breach of the peace or obstructing roads whilst picketing, of whom 8,392 were charged and between 150 and 200 were imprisoned. At least 9,000 mineworkers were dismissed after being arrested whilst picketing even when no charges were brought. After the 1980 steel strike, many hauliers blacklisted drivers who refused to cross picket lines to prevent them obtaining work, and so more drivers crossed picket lines in 1984–1985 than in previous disputes. Picketing failed to have
4941-521: The strike, but most of its members continued to work and many considered the strike unconstitutional given their majority vote against a strike and absence of a ballot for a national strike. As many working miners felt the NUM was not doing enough to protect them from intimidation from pickets, a demonstration was organised on May Day in Mansfield , in which the representative Ray Chadburn was shouted down, and fighting ensued between protesters for and against
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#17330927998035022-406: The strike, but police had advised that their safety could not be guaranteed. The NUM was not represented at the hearing. The High Court ruled that the NUM had breached its constitution by calling a strike without holding a ballot. Although Nicholls did not order the NUM to hold a ballot, he forbade the union from disciplining members who crossed picket lines. The strike in Yorkshire relied on
5103-429: The strike. In NUM elections in summer 1984, members in Nottinghamshire voted out most of the leaders who had supported the strike, so that 27 of 31 newly elected were opposed to the strike. The Nottinghamshire NUM then opposed the strike openly and stopped payments to local strikers. The national NUM attempted to introduce "Rule 51", to discipline area leaders who were working against national policy. The action
5184-585: The transport of coal to power stations. It used the National Recording Centre (NRC), set up in 1972 by the Association of Chief Police Officers for England and Wales linking 43 police forces to enable police forces to travel to assist in major disturbances. Scargill played into her hands by ignoring the buildup of coal stocks and calling the strike at the end of winter when demand for coal was declining. In 1983, Thatcher appointed Ian MacGregor to head
5265-442: The union's affairs." He was fined £1,000 (paid by an anonymous businessman), and the NUM was fined £200,000. When the union refused to pay, an order was made to sequester the union's assets, but they had been transferred abroad. In October 1984, the NUM executive voted to cooperate with the court to recover the funds, despite opposition from Scargill, who stated in court that he was only apologising for his contempt of court because
5346-406: The unions. In the post-war consensus , policy allowed for closures only where agreed to by the workers, who in turn received guaranteed economic security. Consensus did not apply when closures were enforced and redundant miners had severely limited employment alternatives. The NUM's strike in 1974 played a major role in bringing down Edward Heath 's Conservative government. The party's response
5427-548: The widespread impact of earlier stoppages that led to blackouts and power cuts in the 1970s and electricity companies maintained supplies throughout the winter, the time of biggest demand. From September, some miners returned to work even where the strike had been universally observed. It led to an escalation of tension, and riots in Easington in Durham and Brampton Bierlow in Yorkshire. In April 1984, NACODS voted to strike but
5508-594: The working class and the Labour movement." Scargill also rejected the idea that pits that did not make a profit were "uneconomic": he claimed there was no such thing as an uneconomic pit and argued that no pits should close except due to geological exhaustion or safety. No mining could legally be done without being overseen by an overman or deputy. Their union, the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS) with 17,000 members in 1984,
5589-455: The world". The NCB was encouraged to gear itself towards reduced subsidies in the early 1980s. After a strike was narrowly averted in February 1981, pit closures and pay restraint led to unofficial strikes. The main strike started on 6 March 1984 with a walkout at Cortonwood Colliery , which led to the NUM's Yorkshire Area's sanctioning of a strike on the grounds of a ballot result from 1981 in
5670-530: Was a major industrial action within the British coal industry in an attempt to prevent closures of pits that the government deemed "uneconomic" in the coal industry, which had been nationalised in 1947. It was led by Arthur Scargill of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) against the National Coal Board (NCB), a government agency. Opposition to the strike was led by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , who wanted to reduce
5751-551: Was deceiving them and there were no plans to close any more pits than had already been announced. Cabinet papers released in 2014 indicate that MacGregor wished to close 75 pits over a three-year period. Meanwhile, the Thatcher government had prepared against a repeat of the effective 1974 industrial action by stockpiling coal, converting some power stations to burn heavy fuel oil, and recruiting fleets of road hauliers to transport coal in case sympathetic railwaymen went on strike to support
5832-436: Was less willing to take industrial action. Its constitution required a two-thirds majority for a national strike. During the 1972 strike, violent confrontations between striking NUM and non-striking NACODS members led to an agreement that NACODS members could stay off work without loss of pay if they were faced with aggressive picketing. Thus solidarity with striking NUM members could be shown by claims of violence preventing
5913-479: Was more than 1% higher than any other ward. The eastern half of the district remains considerably less prosperous than the western half, with several deprived wards The district is mainly made out of old coal-mining towns, although other industries include wool , chemicals , machine tools , glass and other forms of manufacturing. Horbury is something of an anomaly in having had an iron works . When Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 there were 21 pits in
5994-887: Was nicknamed the "star chamber court" by working miners (in reference to the Star Chamber in English history). It was prevented by an injunction from the High Court. Working miners in Nottinghamshire and South Derbyshire set up a new union: the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM). It attracted members from many isolated pits in England – including Agecroft and Parsonage in Lancashire, Chase Terrace and Trenton Workshops in Staffordshire, and Daw Mill in Warwickshire. Although most Leicestershire miners continued working, they voted to stay in
6075-560: Was prompted on 5 March by the NCB's announcement that five pits would be subject to "accelerated closure" in just five weeks; the other three were Herrington in County Durham, Snowdown in Kent and Polmaise in Scotland. The next day, pickets from Yorkshire appeared at pits in Nottinghamshire and Harworth Colliery closed after a mass influx of pickets amid claims that Nottinghamshire was " scabland in 1926". On 12 March 1984, Scargill declared
6156-677: Was ready to go for a "Yes" vote in a national strike ballot." McGahey said: "We shall not be constitutionalised out of a strike...Area by area will decide and there will be a domino effect". Without a national ballot, most miners in Nottinghamshire , Leicestershire , South Derbyshire , North Wales and the West Midlands kept on working during the strike, along with a sizeable minority in Lancashire . The police provided protection for working miners from aggressive picketing. On 6 March 1984,
6237-416: Was restructured between 1958 and 1967 in cooperation with the unions, with a halving of the workforce; offset by government and industry initiatives to provide alternative employment. Stabilisation occurred between 1968 and 1977, when closures were minimised with the support of the unions even though the broader economy slowed. The accelerated contraction imposed by Thatcher after 1979 was strenuously opposed by
6318-475: Was short of the two-thirds majority that their constitution required. In areas where the strike was observed, most NACODS members did not cross picket lines and, under an agreement from the 1972 strike, stayed off work on full pay. When the number of strikebreakers increased in August, Merrick Spanton, the NCB personnel director, said he expected NACODS members to cross picket lines to supervise their work threatening
6399-473: Was the Ridley Plan , an internal report that was leaked to The Economist magazine and appeared in its 27 May 1978 issue. Ridley described how a future Conservative government could resist and defeat a major strike in a nationalised industry. In Ridley's opinion, trade union power in the UK was interfering with market forces, pushing up inflation, and the unions' undue political power had to be curbed to restore
6480-614: Was the NUM's failure to hold a national strike ballot. The strike was ruled illegal in September 1984, as no national ballot of NUM members had been held. It ended on 3 March 1985. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, the NUM's defeat significantly weakening the trade union movement . It was a major victory for Thatcher and the Conservative Party , with the Thatcher government able to consolidate their economic programme. The number of strikes fell sharply in 1985 as
6561-465: Was the poorest settlement in the country. While more than 1,000 collieries were working in the UK during the first half of the 20th century, by 1984 only 173 were still operating and employment had dropped from its peak of 1 million in 1922, down to 231,000 for the decade to 1982. This long-term decline in coal employment was common across the developed world; in the United States, employment in
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