Winter of discontent

The words are a play on the first line of Shakespeare's Richard the Third, and referred to the winter of 78-79 when the UK government (the labour government, no less) attempted to limit pay rises to 5%.  While that might sound quite generous today, in 1975 inflation in the UK was over 27%, and workers had already gone through two years of 5% pay rises, meaning everyone had taken an effective pay cut.

Surprisingly, it was workers at Ford Motors that started it, with an unofficial strike in September that left 23 factories empty.  The union, who was in the pocket of the politicians, initially didn't even support the strike, but by October they could not ignore it any longer, and demanded a 25% pay rise.  In November, they agreed to a 17% pay rise and the Ford strike was over, but it showed the government could not enforce the 5% pay cap, and everything erupted.

The lorry (truck) drivers went first, followed shortly by the railwaymen, bring supplies to a virtual standstill.  On January 22, 1979, 1.5 million public sector workers went on strike, including nurses and ambulance drivers.  However, the two most prominent strikers were by waste collection and grave diggers.  Councils quickly ran out of space to store rubbish, and Westminster famously allowed rubbish to be piled high in London's Leicester Square, attracting rats. Fortunately, the grave diggers strike only lasted two weeks.

On February 14, the government struck deals with most unions, and by the end of February the strikers were over, with an estimated 30 million work-days lost to strike action.  At the next general election, the Conservatives were able to use this and Margaret Thatcher came to power largely on a platform to control the unions.

These are all very relevant to today as the new government tries to control the deficit, rather than inflation.  Unions, concerned by job cuts and pay freezes, have discussed strike action involving health workers, teachers, postmen, transport unions, and local government staff, with up to four million workers taking a one-day strike on October 20, followed by rolling strikes.  The government has responded with threats to "ban strike action of those involved in the delivery of essential services."

It is an interesting time in Britain, and promises to get even more interesting, because although the Conservatives hold office, they do so only with the consent of the Liberal Democrats, who largely support the unions.  If the coalition were to break down, a new general election would have to be held.  And if that happens, the only certainty is that the pound will fall further, meaning everyone will take an effective pay cut.