Miners Strike - 25 yrs on

[Cyberman]

Honda and Nissan UK both allow unions and they are/were some of the most successful car plants in the western hemisphere, you can’t blame unions for everything, short termism and greed is more of a problem for the British IMO.

Those are successful because the practices were agreed with the unions from set-up, and Nissan for instance set up in the 80s after the Thatcher legislation. The problem arises when the company requires efficiency changes to be made and this could well cause strife at Nissan in the future.

To see problems of longstanding restrictive practices you only have to look at the railways and post office, where salaries and perks are now far higher than in their comparative industries abroad. The Sun newspaper also had massive problems with the printing unions in the early 70s when they wanted to computerise printing practices.

Unfortunately, the unions are largely responsible for the demise of much of British industry and the reluctance of foreign companies to employ British labour in the UK.

[Cyberman]

One thing that shocks me about the whole miners strike is that people on the right seem to forget that miners were real people, with homes and families who were genuinely frightened about their future. They weren't born as hard left communists, they followed a leader they thought could rescue their jobs. On the left there seems to be a denial that something needed to change in British industry and that the unions were by then not really suited to cooperating in change; ultimately it turned into a battle between the hard right and the hard left which the hard right won at the time, but in hindsight, everybody lost.

We did not all lose. In fact we gained by the demise of union power and increased efficiency of the economy as strikes reduced in all industries. Overall, we had a boom period that has been wasted since 1997 with a return to tax and spend policies of the 70s and that are now landing us with a doubling of the national debt to a trillion pounds under Brown.

[Cyberman]

That's right, and people should remember that unions don't just become radicalised without a reason. Intransigence from both sides will never solve anything. It's a particular working atmosphere that gives the Scargills of this world the opportunity to get power in unions, and it doesn't need to happen.

You just cannot give in to unions that ask for 27% pay rises as the miners did. We gave in too much in the 70s and it needed a strong leader to stand up to their blackmail and return to a viable economy. Thatcher was that strong leader.

[BrilloPad]

http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7925552.stm

Any memories, stories, opinions ?


I was in the RAF at the time and posted over in Lincoln, I remember driving over one day and seeing scores and scores of police vans heading down the
A1. I remember at the time thinking - bl**dy miners, but that was mainly watching the BBC. Anyone have any good links or recommend any books that gives both sides of the story ?

I remember the 1970s : power cuts and unions running the country. I was really pleased when Thatcher broke the unions. Bring back Maggie : we need someone to sort out the credit crunch.

[Cyberman]

I remember the 1970s : power cuts and unions running the country. I was really pleased when Thatcher broke the unions. Bring back Maggie : we need someone to sort out the credit crunch.

WHS !!!