We were taught in the science block using Bunsen burners as heaters, which kept us warm, but incredibly drowsy! Barlinnie prison rammy as packages thrown over jail wall into exercise yard. A short history of the of the widespread strike movement that occurred during the winter of 1978-1979 in Britain. Find the right content for your market. We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. A proposal was put to the TUC general council and agreed after several days, bringing an end to the winter long series of disputes. Strike uk 1970s hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy Hosepipes were banned in London. This phrase, borrowed from Shakespeares play Richard III, and the events it described continue to have considerable impact on British culture even now. Then there was the heatwave in '76 when we had severe thunder storms, and water shortages. Police raid Glasgow property and seize 100k of drugs as two men arrested. Next to take action were the lorry drivers. It wasn't a great success. During the ambulance drivers strike in mid-January it was also reported that staff in 1,100 NHS hospitals were refusing to treat anything but emergencies. And Leeds were in the 1st division where they are now.Rodney Thornton, Leeds UK, In January and February of 1974, because of a strike by Britain's miners, the government imposed a three-day working week and rationed electricity supplies. 344,028,143 stock photos, 360 panoramic images, vectors and videos, Share Alamy images with your team and customers. Real wages for NHS and local council employees dropped 19 per cent in this period, pushing many further into poverty. In 1974, employment was in excess of one million people, whereas it had been less than 600,000 at the start of the decade. In 1970 there had been a decision made by the National Joint Council for Local Authorities that local government should automatically pay the rate set by the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB). The Dustbinmen (TV Series 1969-1970) - IMDb Mum made it sound exciting like the Blitz but it wasn't. I am sure that hurt many people. She calculated that after loan payments, utilities and food, she had just 5 a month left for clothes for her and the kids, as well as any other expenses. The union-management GM strike, 1970 - Jeremy Brecher GM strikers in Detroit, September 14, 1970 A brief history of the interesting national strike of the United Auto Workers union at General Motors, organised in conjunction with management to allow workers to blow off steam. You can see photographs by a man named Dennis Harper on his Flickr account. With 80 grave diggers on strike in total, Liverpool City Council hired a factory in Speke to store the corpses until they could be buried. [3], Striking postal workers highlight the disparity in wages between themselves and the politicians, Last edited on 14 December 2021, at 21:35, "Wildcat Postal Strike Worsens; 3 States Hit", "Stocks Sag on Low Volume Due to Postal Strike", "Text of Nixon Speech on Post Office Crisis", "Video of President Nixon announcing federal intervention in the postal strike & strikers speaking", "Chapter 7: Nixon and Ford Administrations, 19691977", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=U.S._postal_strike_of_1970&oldid=1060332060, This page was last edited on 14 December 2021, at 21:35. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please Possibly the most notorious industrial action during the Winter of Discontent was the strike of grave diggers around Liverpool and Manchester. Piles of rubbish building up in London Road, due to a dustcart drivers strike in Glasgow. At the start of it, Birmingham was one of the most . 56,514 people are reading stories on the site right now. Meanwhile, negotiations between Lindsay and the USA went poorly. I cant afford to take the children on holiday or anywhere else. [1], An immediate trigger for the strike was a Congressional decision to raise the wages of postal workers by only 4%, at the same time as Congress raised its own pay by 41%. An old man in our neighbourhood used to so slowly pace his green front garden after dark with a hosepipe down his trousers so no one could see it. About 140,000 people took part in the demonstration in London. Piles of rubbish building up in Dunchattan Street, due to a dustcart drivers strike in Glasgow. 1970 Chrysler Strike. Search with an image file or link to find similar images, Search for stock images, vectors and videos. Copyright 01/05/2023 Alamy Ltd. All rights reserved. See production, box office & company info. The nastiest strike in City history wasnt really supposed to happen. Most had returned to work by the end of February after a total of 29,474,000 working days having been lost to strike action. Lawyers have it rough. [7], Authorities were unsure of how to proceed. A strike of gravediggers who were members of the GMWU (now GMB) occurred in Liverpool and and Tameside in late January. Lets get that debate started! But the industrial unrest had a huge impact. Inflation had reached a height of nearly 26.9% in August 1975. 12th March 1975. [2][3][4], The post office was home to many black workers, and this population increased as whites left postal work in the 1950s and '60s for better jobs. I don't agree with all that Margaret Thatcher did, but let's not pretend that drastic action was not required.AJ, Dorset, UK, I remember one time I had to wait two hours outside a fruit shop just to get some milk!Maffew, Glasgow, Scotland, I remember the three-day week; going to school in groups, all wearing luminous yellow bands on our coat sleeves so that we could be seen in the dark. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. With many collectors having remained out since January 22, local councils were running out of space for storing waste. This series of events came to be known as the Winter of Discontent. READ MORE:COP26: Glasgow cleansing workers vote for strike action during summit. It was the decade of strikes, electricity shortages and piles of rotting rubbish on the street. The rubbish kept coming, and it's only now that I realise that all the council owned recreation areas were used as garbage disposal areas, the hallowed grounds of public school Winchester College, of course were unaffected, hence the working class got kicked in the balls by its own kind yet again! Submitted by Alex. Most Popular Now | 56,514 people are reading stories on the site right now. Untapped New York unearths New York Citys secrets and hidden gems. The government attempted to impose sanctions on Ford for breach of the pay policy soon after the deal had been struck with the union. [1], The Post Office Department's management was outdated and, according to workers, haphazard. I spent 30 minutes with a bucket and sponge and the damage magically disappeared.Bill Huggins, Birmingham, As a trainee engineer in 1976, I remember changing a toilet roll when on secondment to our Sheffield factory and being seriously worried that someone might find out and accuse me of doing somebody else's job. The worst strike for many was on throwaway nappies. 70s England HOMER SYKES RM BP63CF - Winter of Discontent, London. Personal prints, cards and gifts, or reference for artists. On February 5, The New York Timeslamented that the city looked likea vast slum as mounds of refuse growhigher and strong winds whirl the filth through the streets. By that point there were about 30,000 tons of trash on the streets, a number that would grow to100,000 tons. We started with. There are almost 1500 people in the area with the condition, and the council has backed calls for more education to be provided to residents. Council decision to increase allotment rent by 400% 'will force people out'. According to the Daily News, the garbage strike may have been the last straw for a public that already put up with taxi, tugboat, public school, transit and even grave-digger strikes. He has attacked ambulancemen and called them names and he has victimised others., All this disruption to the operation of Britains hospitals inevitably brought negative press. 1978-1979: Winter of discontent | libcom.org The strike began in New York City and spread to some other cities in the following two weeks. The road was closed for around five hours. USA Leader John DeLury threatened a strike, but content that his threathad leverage Mayor John Lindsay to the max, happily reported a $400 wage increase (about 5%), better pensions and double-pay for Sunday. The mounds of filth were infested with rats. Behind the scenes, Rockefeller schemed up a way for the state to take over the sanitation department, or rather his counsel did- he was hospitalized for exhaustion after staying up all weekend to write the legislation. From rubbish piled high to hospital closures and endless strike chaos I had to stay in hospital two extra days because of the snow. It was cause for double celebration for the Frenchman as his club side Montpellier crushed Champions League chasing Monaco and his former club won the Old Firm to reach the Scottish Cup Final. The government was hesitant to arrest strike leaders for fear of arousing sympathy among other workers, and because of popular support for the strikers. In that effort, the experiences of those involved, many of them involved in collective mobilisations for the first time, has been rather forgotten. The Uniform Sanitationmens Association (USA) had been working for six months without a contract, which is pretty common these dayswhen Bloomberg left office in 2013, every single municipal union was working without a contract. In June 1976, the pound had reached a record low against the dollar. NHS ancillary staff, who worked in support roles like catering, cleaning, laundry and portering services, began the 1970s with average pay not only lower than the average manual worker but lower than the average unskilled worker. Phase II of the proposal was agreed in May of that year and stated pay increases would be limited to a maximum of 4 per week for the following 12 months. I was about 8/9 during the three-day week. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. My own school had to close and only those taking exams that summer were educated. They highlight several causal connections, including cultural climate, overlapping personnel, and the simple "demonstration effect," showing that nonviolent civil disobedience could accomplish political change. The public was outraged that Rockefeller had caved, but Lindsay and the USA earned the lions share of the blame for letting the situation escalate. Egg shells, coffee grounds, milk cartons, orange rinds, and empty beer cans littered the sidewalk. Bowery Boogie tracked down a great newsreel from 1968 interviewing New Yorkers about the strike. He famously told the media after returning from a business trip: I dont think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos., This lead The Sun to run the famous front page: "Crisis? Mass demonstrations were held in many cities, including London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast. U.S. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. My mother never forgave Labour or the trade unions for that.Carl Parry, Antalya, Turkey, Trafalgar Square was a mountain of black garbage bags twitching with rats. The Winter of Discontent in the NHS - People's History of the NHS The spontaneous unity produced by this decision empowered the workers. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. BUY TWO IMAGES, GET THE LOWEST PRICE IMAGE HALF PRICE WITH CODE: 50%OFFNEXTIMAGE. The unofficial strike began when 350 Glasgow bin lorry drivers on 6 January 1975 entered an . Learn more about how you can collaborate with us. Copyright 01/05/2023 Alamy Ltd. All rights reserved. Say goodbye to worktime boredom. The government was forced to borrow 2.3billion from the International Monetary Fund - the largest loan ever requested. ', Police and demonstrators clash in a residential street following picketing action by union members of the Grunwick film processing factory in Willesden during a labour dispute in 1977, British Leyland's workers at their giant Longbridge plant voted overwhelmingly for a strike and pickets were immediately mounted at every gate in 1979, Local media reported the Leicester Square's rubbish mound as being infested with rats. At the time, postal workers were not permitted by law to engage in collective bargaining. [1], The stock market fell due to the strike's effect on trading volume. Alamy and its logo are trademarks of Alamy Ltd. and are registered in certain countries. A 37-year-old man has been taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after hit by a car driver on Balshagray Avenue in the early hours of Monday morning. The direct action help stem the tide of effective pay cuts by inflation eating up the value of their wages and won significant improvements for many tens of thousands of workers. We used Artic candles and camping lanterns. Army Soldiers clearing refuse during dustmen strike, March 1975, Fusilier Robert Brown with dead rats found in rubbish at Hotspur Street, Maryhill, Children playing in rubbish dumps as Army lorries parked on road during dustmen strike. Baby girl carried over Glasgow Kiltwalk finish line months after surviving open heart surgery. For the first time in 25 years, the army was brought in to break a strike and clear the rubbish away. In the 1970s, widespread public sector worker strikes were a common feature of British life and refuse was one of things not collected for weeks leading to serious environment and public health issues and for children danger when playing outdoors. In some places managers managed to provoke all-out strikes by disciplining staff for taking part. Brighton shock: Rubbish piles up in the streets as binmen strike Some 150bodies were stored at any one point, with 25 added every day. The winter of discontent caused a lot of disruption through all the strike action but to a teenager who cared for little else but music, fashion and boys, most of the politics just passed me by! A strike began when 15,000 Ford workers walked off the job on September 22 and by September 26 had been joined by 57,000 others, leaving 23 Ford factories up and down the country empty. Undelivered: From the Great Postal Strike of 1970 to the - JSTOR After bringing supplies transported by road to a virtual standstill, and after just less than a month of strike action, the drivers accepted a pay deal just 1 less per week than the union had asked for. The rubbish strikes of Glasgow in the 1970s - Glasgow Live Piles of rubbish building up in Glasgow, due to a dustcart drivers strike in Glasgow. [7], President Nixon appeared on national television and ordered the employees back to work, but his address only stiffened the resolve of the existing strikers and angered workers in another 671 locations in other cities into walking out as well. "; Watch his History of Modern Britain on BBC Two on Tuesdays at 2100 BST, Read and watch your written memories, pictures and videos every Friday in, How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire, Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit, How elephants helped to shape human history, by David Cannadine, Justin Webb on America's love affair with progress. There is an 11 day bin man strike in Edinburgh and this is - Reddit GLASGOW cleansing workers are becoming more militant as direct result of Susan Aitkens poor leadership regarding the councils refuse policy. I really need a list of good books for this topic. There are a number of different measures of inflation in use. This was certainly true of National Health Service staff who participated in strikes during this period. [11], Nixon then ordered 24,000 military personnel forces to begin distributing the mail. The rubbish attracted rats and, rather indistinguishably, the conservative media, who used pictures of the Square in an attempt to discredit the strikers. One could be somewhat prepared. Eventually the management hired some dumper trucks which were used to ferry coal from the reserve stock area. A number of important strikes were launched, several of which still evoke images iconic of the struggle during the winter of 1978-79. Better than Crackerjack! 08:47, 6 DEC 2021. The strike lasted 13 weeks in total. What books did you use to write this? 296,669,475 stock photos, 360 panoramic images, vectors and videos, Share Alamy images with your team and customers. The army were put on standby to take over from tanker drivers who eventually settled on a 15 per cent rise. 10 photos of 1970s strikes in Birmingham, including Saltley Gate In March more than 130,000 NHS workers in the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) voted against an offer of a 9 per cent pay increase, although their colleagues in the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) voted to accept. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. The strike began in New York City and spread to some other cities in the following two weeks. National newspapers reported extensively on any real or potential effects of the strikes, casting the protests as the work of callous union militants and accusing strikers of targeting amongst others sick children. Non-commercial use only, not for resale. Pictures of the 1970s cleansing crisis sent in by Living Rent. I had my second son in Feb 1979 when hospital workers strike was on .We had paper sheets on the beds, no hot food, the babies had paper baby gowns and then it snowed really hard, cutting off Chelmsford where I was in hospital from my home in Maldon. The U.S. postal strike of 1970 was an eight-day strike by federal postal workers in March 1970. Glasgow comedian Kevin Bridges and actor Martin Compston have been celebrating on opposite sides of the world after Celtic's epic showdown saw them beat Rangers 1-0. Most cheaters only have affairs if oral sex is guaranteed and people from this country are its biggest fans, Passionate fling with charming boss has unleashed my wild side and now I want him for keeps, Daily horoscope for Thursday August 31 heres what the stars have in store for you today, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). I cant afford a Sunday joint. On March 16, 1976 Britain was stunned by Wilsons shock resignation with him succeeded by former Foreign Secretary James Callaghan. Wearing their orange hi-vis overalls, the two . Many people know that Martin Luther Kings final campaign was in Memphis, where he gave his Ive Been to the Mountaintop speech in support of striking sanitation workers. This development of rank-and-file independence from the trade union leadership and from orderly collective bargaining in the late 1960s/early 1970s in US, in . Binmen sacked over 'appalling' street brawl - with one knocked After Glasgow's forthcoming cleansing worker strike was brought to the UK's attention during last night's Question Time, two residents and campaigners discuss the situation and its connection to problems of the 1970s. [9] Some feared that the stock market would have to close entirely. Rubbish piles up in the streets of the west end London. I was lucky enough to find a whole bag of used syringes! The strike showed how important cleansing workers are to the upkeep of the city with rubbish piling high and there being fears over disease spreading and increased numbers of rats. The 1911 Way to Clean the Streets of a Big Town. Phases I and II, announced in July 1975, proposed a rise of 6 a week for all workers earning below 8,500 annually. The decision to increase rent prices for Glasgow allotments has been slammed by plot-holders who say it could force vulnerable renters to give up their beloved hobby. One amusing event was during the coal strike and three day week, my father looked in he paper and decided that, as we were on a 'high risk' for power cuts at home we would go to the city to the cinema to see the new James Bond. The public feared what would happen if strike action continued with speculation burials at sea would be considered. The IMF Crisis took place during Jim Callaghans term as Prime Minister. The strike sparked action from other sectors, including hospital staff and grave diggers, Youngmen scour notice boards at the Jobs Centre. The Winter of Discontent has come to stand for a wider narrative about the 1970s as a period where everyone was constantly on strike, electricity was rationed and the unions ran the country. Dick Groat - amerykaski baseballista, koszykarz [1] Jerry Springer - amerykaski dziennikarz i polityk [2] Wiktor Wysoczaski - polski teolog i duchowny starokatolicki, zwierzchnik Kocioa polskokatolickiego w RP (1995-2023), biskup warszawski (1996-2023) [3] 26 kwietnia. Christopher Jullien's two word Celtic response as Jota strike dumps Rangers out Scottish Cup. January 22 saw a "Day of Action" held by public sector unions, following several strikes of railwaymen that had already begun. [4], The strike ended after eight days with not a single worker being fired, as the Nixon administration continued to negotiate with postal union leaders. They were also used to store piles of ash in every available space.