After being swept into office with a comfortable majority of 30 seats, the government introduced a series of laws to gradually take away the unions power. They had learnt from Edward Heaths government and did this gradually over many years.
This started with the ‘Employment Act of 1980’. This act was the first step towards the decline of strong unionism. Its purpose was to protect workers from dismissal if they objected to joining unions, force unions to hold secret ballots to decide to strike and restrict ‘picketing’ (11). Following closely was the ‘Employment Act 1982’, which broadened the 1980 act and allowed employers to sue unions for damages, limited immunity for political strikes and further restricted closed-shop agreements by forcing a secret ballot every 5 years. Balloting was also required to strike at a high 85% approval from all union members (12).
After the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher was at her political height and her power solidified, she took further action. She introduced another union limit bill under the name ‘Trade Union Act of 1984’, not long after the election. This introduced secret pre-strike ballots and ensured trade unions executive committee members were directly elected. (13).
Another ‘Employment Act’ was passed in 1988 and built on its predecessors. The act allowed for union members to take a claim to a tribunal if they were treated in an unjust manner by their union, allow union members to restrain strike action without a ballot through the court, limited close-shop policy by making it illegal to dismiss an employee for refusing to join, increased internal ballots for various positions in unions, requites pre-strike ballots at every place of work and established a Commissioner for the Rights of Trade Union Members which aided union members in bringing their union to court (14). This was followed with the Dock Work Act 1989 and the important ‘Employment Act 1990’. This act made it unlawful to refuse to employ someone who wasn’t a trade union member, removed further immunity for picketing, restrict unofficial industrial action and extended the powers of the Commissioner for the Rights of Trade Union Members (15).
However, legislation was not the only reason for the fall of the unions. The economic policies she implemented, alongside a recession, led to high unemployment and the importance of the manufacturing sector fell. With almost 3 million out of work, there were far fewer members of the key unions that controlled the country. The manufacture industry was worst affected by the unemployment and economic policies which, to the pleasure of Thatcher, was were the base of unions existed. The war, however, continued. The earlier legislation requiring a secret ballot for picketing was now law and Arthur Scargill began to dig his own grave. He called a strike of the nation’s pits in response to the controversial speech she gave to the 1922 committee: "We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty." (16). Scargill held this strike without a ballot and miners in Nottinghamshire ignored him and continued work. This meant the power station stayed open and eventually broke away from his union, leaving his numbers dwindling (17).
After deeming that that “Too often trade unions are dominated by a handful of extremists who do not reflect the common-sense views of most union members” in the 1979 manifesto, were the Conservative party successful in controlling the unions?
The power of the unions has been diminished without a doubt, and many industrial actions once legal are now banned including the controversial closed-shop policy that unions could implement. They can no longer picket without an onerous balloting system, they have to be more transparent and elect their leaders. Industrial action has become much less frequent over the years, and wasted days have been significantly reduced ().
An interesting result of this war on trade unions is that Tony Blair and ‘New Labour’ did little to change the laws that Margaret Thatcher implemented (). Generally, New Labour decided to distance themselves from the unions that had brought down governments before. Government legislation continued to limit unions under Blair and many of Thatcher’s original acts haven’t been repealed. Some have been replaced with superseding legislation. The 1997 Labour manifesto indeed said that “key elements of the trade union legislation of the 1980s will stay – on ballots, picketing and industrial action” (). Although not a direct endorsement of her policies, it does suggest that trade unions no longer play a vital role in the British working world. At the very least, Labour is no longer as dependant on the unions as they used to be (). The centrism of two main political parties certainly suggests that trade union legislation is to remain as it is for quite a while longer.
The Labour government published a white paper regarding trade union legislation which was published in 1998 named ‘Fairness to Work’. It also stated that “days of strikes without ballots, mass picketing, closed shops and secondary action are over” ().
Trade Unionism
Trade unions were major forces of power before, and during, Thatcher’s premiership. They held power over many of Britain’s largest industries and had strong influence in the government, especially the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.
Previous governments had promised to curb their powers. Edward Heath held an election in 1974 to gain a mandate to curb the trade unions, but even the Conservatives believed in their power. The October 1974 manifesto stated that “Trade Unions are an important estate of the realm” but insisted that Britain “shall not be dominated by the trade unions. They are nor the government of the country” (1).
Edward Heaths government made attempts to control aspects of these unions, but not nearly as ruthlessly as the Thatcher government. Under his government, the Industrial Relations Act 1971 was introduced. The Act had similar aims to Thatcher’s policies, including legal registration of unions (Registrar of Trade Unions) and restricting power to strike against the government (2). Although it seemed like a step towards control, the unions pushed back and refused to co-operate with the government. A new National Industrial Relations Court was temporarily introduced but little was made of it. The Acts aims were largely ignored and were almost impossible to implement (3). After Labour returned to power in 1974, the act was repealed. The Trade Union & Labour Relations Act 1974 broadened some of the original powers of the unions including their immunity (4)
The National Union of Miners were the main protagonists for the Tory government. Led by Arthur Scargill, they prevented thousands from getting to work and disrupted supplies of coal and led to a shortage. Edward Heath decided to introduce the ‘three-day week’ which limited the amount of fuel a household could use. Hoping the NUM to give up was futile, and eventually the government gave in to wage demands, leading to a 21% wage increase for miners (5)(18).
Not long before Thatcher’s electoral victory, in 1978, the Winter of Discontent shook Britain. The public sector unions decided to strike in order to wreak the same pay increase that the private sector had. The National Union of Public Employees joined with the Confederation of Health Service Employees and on the 22nd of January, 1.5 million workers came out on strike (6). Following this, the unions held strategic strikes to best affect the government. Some cities had bin bags piling up with no one to collect them which was a major embarrassment for Callaghan (7)
Margaret Thatcher considered unions to be “the enemy within” (8). She also blamed Labour for allowing them to become as powerful as they did. A line in the 1979 Conservative manifesto said that “by heaping privilege without responsibility on the trade unions, Labour have given the minority of extremists the power to abuse individual liberties and to thwart Britain’s chances of success” (9). This position was far stronger than the previous government, and summed up the distain she felt for unions.
The policies implemented to deal with the trade unions did lead to a decline in members throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1979, official figures stated that there were 13.2 million members of unions in the UK but by 1990, the number was 9.8 million (10).