Placeholder text

Go to cart

Steelworkers in struggle

By Charlie McGuire

Product Image: Steelworkers in struggle

Steelworkers in struggle

By Charlie McGuire

0 - Default Title
Description
The 1980 national steelworkers strike was an epic social and political event. It was the first national industrial conflict between trade unions and the new Thatcher government, lasting for three months and involving over 100,000 workers. The strike was also, at that time, the longest national industrial stoppage since 1926. Using oral history testimonies from workers throughout the country, this book explores the strike, its origins, development, outcome, and longer-term impact and consequences. It argues that the strike was a critical turning point in British history and one which would have serious implications for working class organisations and communities in the years that followed. The strike was nominally a response to a 2% pay offer made by British Steel Corporation (BSC), at a time when inflation was 17%, but was generated by the widespread works closures that characterised the British steel industry at this time. The outcome of the strike was a much higher pay increase but no change to the deindustrialisation strategy of BSC and the government. The book explores the strike from the perspective of those who fought it and reveals the short and longer-term consequences it had on the industry, the unions and the workers themselves. Providing insights into the demise of the steel industry in Britain, Steelworkers in struggle deepens understandings of deindustrialisation in Britain and its impacts within working class communities throughout the country.
Product details
Number of Pages:
234
Release Date:
2025-05-20
Publication Date:
2025-05-20
Publisher:
Manchester University Press
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
1526123207
ISBN13:
9781526123206
Weight:
520 g
Height:
161 cm
Width:
240 cm
Thickness:
17 cm
Buy on Amazon
Currently sold out