Timeline of Strike 1886-1926 Flashcards
(45 cards)
1
Q
when was the TUC founded
A
1868
2
Q
trade union act 1871
A
- legalised unions
3
Q
when was the criminal law amendment act
A
- 1871
- made picketing illegal
4
Q
when was the conspiracy & protection of property act
A
- 1875
- legalised picketing
5
Q
match girls strike
A
- 1887
- 1400 match girls
- helped by fabian Annie Besant
- workers were sacked for refusing to deny the truth of Besant article
- after strike : reinstated, wages and conditions improved
- but red phosphorus legal until 1911
6
Q
gas workers union
A
- set up in 1889 by Will thorne - socialist
- strike demanded 3x 8 hour shifts, therefore claiming an 8 hr day
- won immediately
- 20,000 members and grew nationally
7
Q
london docks strike
A
- led by tillet mann and burn (socialist, inspired by gas worker strike)
- demanded 6d/hr, 8d/hr overtime and min 4 hour workday
- nearly failed but australian dockers donated 30K and conciliation meant victory for dockers
- 30K members but separate unions in liverpool and bristol
8
Q
miners federation of GB
A
- 1889
- covered most coal miners
9
Q
backlash
A
- shipping federation
- national free labour federation
- set up a register of seamen
- agreed to work with non union labour
- organised scabs
10
Q
lyon v wilkins
A
- 1896
- allowed employer to obtain an injection restricting picketing before pickets had even formed
11
Q
national lock out of engineers
A
- 1897
- demanded 8hr days
- lasted 6 months
- scabs did their job
- union had to drop demands (failed)
12
Q
conciliation act
A
- 1896
- gave board of trade option to intervene and arbitrate disputes for agreements by the parties to it
13
Q
taff vale judgement
A
- 1901
- made unions liable for any economic loss caused by strikes
14
Q
trade dispute act 1906
A
- reversed taff vale
- unions gained civil immunity for damages caused by strikes
15
Q
osborne case
A
- 1909
- made the political levy illegal
16
Q
trade unions act 1913
A
- reversed the osbourne case
17
Q
coal mine strike
A
- january 1910
- 10 months
- introduced 8 hour days
- 3 shifts introduced
- wifes had to continuously work to feed and support 3 men on 3 different shifts
18
Q
cotton strike
A
- june 1910
- strike after workers sacked for refusing to do duties of another type of worker
- employers start lock out of all textile workers in county
- failed
19
Q
coal mine strike in south wales
A
- july 1910
- starved back to work after 10 months
20
Q
singer factory in glasgow
A
- 1911
- ended successfully
- sacked 400 workers including syndicalist workers
21
Q
london dock strike 1911
A
- threatened food supplies in london
- conciliation used
- led to wage rises and cut in working day from 12 to 10 hours
22
Q
liverpool docks lockout
A
- august 1911
- great violence
- 2 strikers shot dead
- ended after asquith enabled union recognition via conciliation
23
Q
national union of railwaymen
A
- 1912
- combination of 3 existing unions
24
Q
miners national strike
A
- feb 1912
- seen as economic cathasphophy
- government intervenes with conciliation
- some leaders do not agree to it so in march 800,000 miners on strike
- end of march asquith introduces bill to implement local negotiations and forces all owners to accept it
25
1913 & 1914
- fewer strikes
- London dockers strike of 1912 is unsuccessful and ends in 1913
- agricultural workers organise and strike
26
irish transport and genral workers unions
- led by Larkin
- turns violent because of strike breaking
- failed and led to TUC hostility to Larkin
27
triple alliance
- 1914
- miners union
- NUR
- transport of workers federation
- coordinate strike action ion the future
- sympathy strikes
in theory could paralyse the economy
- involved 1.3m workers
28
strikes as a result of WW1
- dramatically declined
- 1400 strikes in 1913
- 972 strikes in 1914
- back up to 1400 in 1919
29
why did strikes decrease during WW1
- treasury war agreement 1915
- munitions act
- affiliation to the TUC doubled to 4m +
- wages increase in exchange for non strike agreements and dilution of skills
30
what was the treasury agreement
- 1915
- compulsory arbitration
- relaxation of restrictive practices
- no striking
- leaving certificates
- given statutory power by the munitions act 1915
31
Trade Union (Amalgamation) Act 1917
- ended difficulty of union mergers
32
police strike
- 1918
- against refusal to allow a police union
- fails
- sacked and police trade unionism ended.
33
Red Clyde strike
- led by shop stewards
- reduce working week from 54 hours to 40 to help
unemployed
- failed.
34
Restoration of Pre-war Practices Act
- 1919
- reversed the changes of 1915
- Ended nationalisations of rail and mines.
35
Emergency Powers Act
- 1920
- response to reemergence of triple alliance
- rail and transport threatened to support miners with strikes
- ensure supplies
- govt negotiated 6 month wage increase
- postponed strike by miners and crisis
- Govt keen to use time to de-control mines and rail in 1921
36
mines returned back to private control - end of tripple alliance
- 31 march 1921
- Rail and dock strike promised for 16 April
- Negs between miners and govt but broke down
- Rail Workers demanded Miners return to talks and, when they refused, rail strike cancelled on 15 April
37
black friday
- cripple alliance - just miners
- 3 months strike by miners
- starved back to accept wage cuts.
38
effect of gold standard on strike action
- gold standard led to mine owners cutting wages and lengthening working day
- TUC support miners and govt intervened
- wage subsidy granted and Sankey Commission set up in July 1925 = Red Friday, celebrated
- Samuel Cmsn agree with employers & report rejected by miners
39
background to the general strike
syndicalist A J Cook prepared miners for lock-out on 1 May 1926
- Negs continued in April and TUC prepared for strike
- Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies (OMS) set up by govt in April
- 3 May Daily Mail headline led to end of negs and 4 May General Strike.
40
the general strike
- 4 May
- Involved 1m miners
- 1.5m other workers – transport, iron and steel, printers, power industries
- Strike Committees and a TUC Strike Organisation
Committee led by Bevin.
- OMS strike breakers,
- strike attacked as ‘political’ by Libs and Cons
- Macdonald refused to support it.
41
end of the general strike
- 6 May the former Attorney General, said that trade union leaders personally liable for damages and tr un funds were not immune
- frightened TUC
- Subsequent negs of Samuels and TUC were fruitless
- TUC ended the strike without any commitment from mine owners or govt. Miners continue until November.
42
trade dispute act 1927
- civil servants banned from unionisation
- union strength meant employers did not cut wages significantly if unions accepted job cuts
- Mass unemployment deterred strikes
- Reduced political levy by one third – repealed in 1947
43
Invergordon Mutiny
- 1931
- 1000 sailors
- against wage cuts of the National Government
-led to GB being forced off the gold standard.
44
trade union members
1914: 4m
- 1919 - 20: 8m membership of unions doubled
-but 2.5m left unions 1920-22 due to unemployment.
- 1926 membership is still bigger than 1914
1925-1927: unions lost 500,000 members.
45
wildcat strikes
- 1950s
- strikes made by shop stewards against union leadership advice.
