Simon Greaves, an FT journalist who was coal industry reporter for the Nottingham Evening Post throughout the strike, writes for Nottinghamshire Live and the Nottingham Post on the miners' strike 40 years on, drawing on insights gained from his unique position on the frontline of news reporting at the time.
Its implications for Britain’s economic, political and social fabric have been far-reaching over the subsequent four decades having left deep scars in communities, none more so than in the Nottinghamshire coalfield which became the crucible for a back-to-work movement and birthplace of a moderate breakaway union.
Divisions quickly emerged between striking and working miners while the NCB avoided a national ballot for fear some regions would not support action. Hardly surprising, since this country’s industrial landscape was forever reshaped by Thatcherism’s overbearing strategy to impose employer dominance across the whole labour market and industrial sector, which resulted in a broadly weakened trade union movement. This weakness has lasted in spite of a spike in strike days recently as Labour unrest has bubbled up in other ways. In the 12 months to May 2023, 3.
This reshaping of the mining regions also adjusted the world of work for many who were then forced to turn to less stable jobs instead of following the father and son pattern of jobs for life in their local pits. One commentator said these poorly-paid largely unskilled jobs resulted in a general uptake of work in semi-skilled roles such as caretakers, refuse collectors, milk and delivery men, taxi drivers, warehouse or call-centre operators.
This time his refusal to agree to a ballot lost him the support of wavering rank-and-file members and other trade unions. Digging in for the long-haul, the Conservative government refused to back down, and implemented its plan of closures while coal was imported and stockpiled at railheads and power stations.
The region had a defiant history. A six-month miners’ lockout had followed the 1926 General Strike but the Notts men, led by MP George Spencer, negotiated their own return to work and formed a breakaway union. To some extent the early targeting of its pits by violent interlopers only galvanised the general resistance to taking action.
The back-to-work movement gathered pace steadily and the Green Dragon pub in Oxton became the focal point of working miners’ solidarity meetings. Along with a legal campaign to enshrine in law their right to work, following two judgements in the spring 2,000 Notts miners gave up the strike and returned to their workplaces. It was widely argued at the time, though, that despite the resistance to striking this did not mean that there was general support for the Coal Board or the government.