UK miners' strike (1969) facts for kids

The UK miners' strike of 1969 was a big protest by coal miners in the United Kingdom. It wasn't officially approved by their main union at first. About 140 of the 307 coal mines, called collieries, joined the strike. This included all the mines in the Yorkshire area. The strike started on October 13, 1969, and lasted for about two weeks. Some mines went back to work sooner than others. Because of the strike, the National Coal Board (NCB), which owned the mines, lost £15 million. They also lost 2.5 million tonnes of coal.

Why the Strike Happened: The Background

When the strike happened, the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) were talking about miners' pay. Even though this wasn't the main reason for the strike, it became important for solving it.

In the 1960s, many jobs in coal mining disappeared. Nearly 400,000 mining jobs were lost. The leaders of the NUM didn't do much to stop this. However, a more active group within the union was growing stronger. They were inspired by student protests happening at the time. When miners protested in London for better pay, many people in the city were surprised that coal mines were still open in Britain. Some miners felt that the NUM's leader, Sidney Ford, was too quiet and too willing to agree with the government.

What Caused the Miners' Strike?

The main reason for the strike was the working hours for surface workers. These were miners who worked above ground. Often, they were older miners who could no longer work underground. Their pay was lower, and their working hours were longer than for those who worked underground.

In July 1968, the NUM's yearly meeting voted to demand that surface workers' hours be cut. They wanted their workday to be seven and three-quarter hours long. But the union's main leaders had not yet acted on this vote.

How the Strike Unfolded

On October 11, Arthur Scargill led a group of miners from Yorkshire. They pushed for action at the Yorkshire NUM's local meeting. The president of the Yorkshire NUM, Sam Bullogh, was sick and said Scargill's request was "out of order." But the delegates at the meeting voted Bullogh out of his leadership role. They then voted for a strike by a large margin: 85 votes to 3.

Within two days, all 70,000 miners in Yorkshire were on strike. In other areas known for strong union action, like Kent, South Wales, and Scotland, miners also stopped working soon after. The coal areas of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire were more traditional. Miners from Yorkshire went to these areas to encourage them to join the strike. This was one of the first times that "flying pickets" were used widely. Flying pickets are groups of strikers who travel to other workplaces to encourage workers there to join the strike.

Most of North Derbyshire joined the strike because of the pickets. But by October 24, 1969, only five mines in Nottinghamshire had joined. Officials from the Nottinghamshire NUM complained about "hooliganism" from the flying pickets. They asked for police to be present. These clashes were later seen as a sign of the more aggressive picketing that would happen during the 1984–5 strike.

Many of the unofficial strikers started demanding changes in the NUM's leadership. They set up their own strike committees to work around the official union groups. The union had avoided making demands of Labour governments since the Second World War. It had been mostly quiet while many mines were closing under the first Wilson government.

A group of wives in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, even refused to do any housework until their husbands went back to work!

The head of the National Coal Board, Alf Robens, who used to be a Labour MP, suggested a way to end the strike. He offered to give the miners the pay raise they wanted: 27 shillings and 6 pence (£1.375) per week. Vic Feather, the general secretary of the TUC (Trades Union Congress), helped arrange for the miners to go back to work. This was based on Robens' pay offer. However, the issue of working hours for surface workers was left to be discussed later.

The NUM held a vote where miners had to accept both the pay offer and the delay in discussing surface workers' hours as one package. They couldn't accept the pay but reject the hours issue. The package was accepted by 237,462 votes to 41,322. The Yorkshire NUM area had suggested rejecting the offer. But even in Yorkshire, miners voted to accept it by 37,597 votes (72.3%) to 14,373 (27.6%).

Later, after an official strike in 1972, the Wilberforce Inquiry looked into the situation. It found that miners in the late 1960s had been overworked and underpaid.

How the Strike Changed the NUM

Many people saw the 1969 strike as a turning point. After this, the NUM, especially in Yorkshire, became more active and willing to protest. In Yorkshire, many union officials were voted out and replaced by more left-leaning leaders.

Andrew Taylor, who studied the Yorkshire NUM, gave five reasons why Yorkshire became more active like Kent, Scotland, and South Wales in the 1960s:

• Yorkshire was a large region and always had some active areas. But the active groups became more important in the late 1960s. This happened because the moderate union leaders had failed to get good deals from the government.
• Mine closures in Yorkshire were rare before the mid-1960s. When they started, they had a big emotional impact.
• The National Coal Board changed how it organized its regions in 1966–67. Yorkshire was split into four smaller areas. But the NUM kept one main area for Yorkshire. This led to a new system for talks with the NCB. It gave more chances for active mines in certain areas to go against the NUM leadership.
• With a new pay agreement, wages no longer changed much from one mine to another. This made it easier for miners to find a common reason to strike when they were unhappy about pay.
• The leaders in Yorkshire didn't understand how unhappy the miners were. They didn't expect the miners to be so disappointed with the national union leaders.

The strike also led to talks about the NUM's rule that required a two-thirds majority vote for a national strike. Many argued that this rule made it too hard to call a strike. They felt the 1969 action could have been handled better if the rule was different. There were more unofficial strikes in active mines in 1970. This happened after a vote for national action got 55% in favor, which was not enough for an official strike. In 1971, the rule was changed, and only a 55% majority was needed to call a strike.

The 1969 strike was the first time Scargill became well-known outside of his local activities at Woolley Colliery. He had previously organized a local strike there in 1960. He called the 1969 strike "the October revolution" (referring to the Soviet historical event of the same name). In 1975, he said, "'69 was responsible for producing all the victories that were to come."

Scargill went on to play a very important role in the 1972 strike, especially by organizing the Battle of Saltley Gate. He also led the union during the major 1984–85 strike.