![]() The industries that were particularly hard hit were the old 'staple' industries - shipbuilding, coal and textiles. Many areas of British industry were going through a disastrous slump, and during the war British industry had lost many of its old markets to American and Japanese competition. Economic downturnīetween 19 relations between Labour and the trade union movement, and government and employers got steadily worse. The OMS also set up stores of food and fuel. This established a force of volunteers to drive public transport in the event of a strike. He also set up the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies (OMS) in 1925. He set up the Samuel Commission to study the coal industry and report back. It seemed that conflict would arise again once the subsidy ended. ![]() However, the agreement was only for 9 months and the government took no responsibility for running the mines. This success became known as 'Red Friday'. The Conservative Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, agreed to pay mine owners a subsidy which would avoid the wage cut for miners. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) wanted to help the miners, but also wanted to involve the government in the dispute in the hope government involvement would bring a lasting settlement. Cook, was firm in his view that they would accept 'Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day'.Ī lockout seemed likely, but this time the Triple Alliance held together, threatening a complete embargo on all production or movement of coal, which would have brought the country to a halt. A new demand was made, involving a further cut in wages and an extra hour on the working day. On 30 June 1925, with one month's notice, the mine owners announced that existing working conditions would end. This became known as 'Black Friday', and although the miners continued with a bitter strike they were eventually forced back to work after accepting a wage cut. On the day the strike was supposed to begin they withdrew their support. The railwaymen and transport workers felt that the miners had not tried hard enough to negotiate. Together these three unions formed the Triple Alliance. They called on the railwaymen and transport workers to join them in a strike starting on 15 April 1921. The miners were told they had to accept the new conditions or lose their jobs. Black FridayĪ further cause of tension was the threat of the mine owners to impose pay cuts and increase working hours when the coalmines were returned to private ownership and out of government control on 31 March 1921. The miners refused to accept these measures. As a result, in 1920, mine owners demanded cuts in wages and an extended working day stating that the alternative would be complete closure of the least economically viable pits. In the aftermath of the First World War the coal industry was under pressure from foreign competition. Mine owners' demandsĬonditions in the coal mining industry were very hard indeed, and partly due to this, mineworkers were some of the most heavily unionised and most militant workers. Lloyd George returned the mines to the mine owners in 1921. The Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, refused the mine owners were influential and powerful and he wanted to avoid taking control of an industry facing serious conflict. Sir John Sankey led a Commission to investigate this issue, and recommended that nationalisation should continue. Under government control, wages, hours and safety improved, and at the end of the war miners wanted to retain the status quo. This was the reason government took-over the mines during the war. Coal was at the heart of British industry and was even more important than other energy sources - such as electricity and petrol - that emerged in the 1920s. During the First World War the coal industry was nationalised by the government.
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