Commercial consumption of electricity would be limited to three consecutive days each week. Social History 27#2 (2002): 184-209. This extended to most industries, including coal mining, which provided the majority of the country's fuel and had a powerful trade union. The hospitals, supermarkets and newspaper printing presses) were exempt.Throughout the 1970s the British economy was troubled by high rates of inflation. In the 1970s, most of the UK's electricity was produced by coal-burning power stations. Services deemed essential (e.g. He responded "You can't dig coal with bayonets. "Before the storm: The experience of nationalization and the prospects for industrial relations partnership in the British coal industry, 1947-1972-rethinking the militant narrative." • Ackers, Peter, and Jonathan Payne. In response, 111 Labour MPs signed a statement to condemn McGahey. "The strike began officially on 5 February and, two days later, Heath called the On 21 February 1974, the government's Pay Board reported that the NUM's pay claim was within the Phase 3 system for claims and would return miners' wages to the levels recommended by the Wilberforce Enquiry in 1972.There had been some violence on miners' picket lines during the Most of the media were strongly opposed to the NUM strike. An exception was the The new Labour government increased miners' wages by 35% immediately after the February 1974 election. The strike occurred after wage negotiations between the NUM and the During the 1950s, the wages of miners went up from a prewar position of 84th to near the top in the league table of the wages earned by industrial workers,During a parliamentary debate on the strike in its second week, both Labour and Conservative MPs praised the miners for the forbearance shown during the mass pit closures in the 1960s.The strike was characterised by the miners sending flying pickets to other industrial sites to persuade other workers to strike in solidarity, which led to railway workers' refusing to transport coal and power station workers' refusing to handle coal.Power shortages emerged, and a The strike lasted seven weeks and ended after miners agreed to a pay offer on 19 February.The result was characterised as a "victory for violence" by the Conservative Cabinet at the time, in reference to some clashes between miners and police and to some throwing of stones and bottles at lorries trying to pass the pickets.A volunteer force was planned in Scotland to break the miners' pickets during the strike. To tackle this, the government capped public sector pay rises and publicly promoted a clear capped level to the private sector.
From 1 January 1974, commercial users of electricity were limited to three specified consecutive days' consumption each week and prohibited from working longer hours on those days.
McGahey called in a speech for the army to disobey orders, and either stay in the barracks or join picket lines, if they were asked to break the strike.
This caused unrest amongst trade unions as wages did not keep pace with price increases. As inflation increased, miners' wages fell in real terms and, by October 1973, average wages were 2.3% cent lower than recommended by the In the 1970s, most of the UK's electricity was produced by coal-burning power stations.On 24 January 1974, 81 percent of NUM members voted to strike, having rejected the offer of a 16.5 percent pay rise.In the aftermath of the vote, there was speculation that the army would be used to transport coal and man the power stations. Heath's objectives were business continuity and survival and to avoi… To reduce electricity consumption, and thus conserve coal stocks, the Conservative Prime Minister, Edward Heath, announced a number of measures on 13 December 1973, including the Three-Day Work Order, which came into force at midnight on 31 December. After release of government papers under the An inquiry into miners' pay, chaired by The inadequacy of the government's response to the strike provoked re-evaluation of emergency planning.