7/24/2023 0 Comments General strike definition duboisNorman Tebbitt’s 1982 Employment Act substituted the meaning of trade dispute as occurring “between employers and workers” to “between workers and their employer.” In doing so, the act rendered secondary action, also known as sympathy strikes, unlawful. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher came to power determined to crush the power of organised labour. Their arrests prompted a national wave of solidarity strikes, a mass walkout of dockers, and a threat from the TUC of a one-day general strike unless the five were freed. ![]() In 1972, Britain came close to another general strike after dockers who came to be known as the Pentonville Five were arrested after they ignored a court injunction to stop picketing. After nine days, the TUC ended the strike, while the miners continued to fight alone, and returned to work in November, defeated. The TUC called the strike in support of miners, who were fighting a dispute against mine owners who demanded they work longer hours for less pay. The only general strike to have taken place in Britain was in May 1926. So, almost 100 years on from the last general strike, are we moving towards another? General strikes in history. However, a motion was passed last October at the TUC conference that recognised “the need for unions to focus on collective action” and called on the TUC to “actively encourage, facilitate, organise, support industrial coordination and a united campaign of coordinated industrial action between unions.”Īs Tony Kearns, the senior deputy general secretary of the CWU, said in an interview on Monday: “The TUC is the sum of its parts, so that’s up to the general secretaries, including my own, Dave Ward. The coordinating function of the TUC has been neglected over the past 30 years. ![]() ![]() While far from a general strike, the day of action is a definite step up in the current wave of disputes. As the UK’s strike wave continues, with teachers and firefighters becoming the latest to join in on the action, there’ s been considerable talk – and substantial confusion – around the idea of a general strike.ġ February, the TUC’s ‘protect the right to strike’ day, will see up to half a million workers walk out together, with civil servants, teachers, university staff and train drivers all taking action.
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