Wigan Album

God bless her and all those ladies who fought to keep the pits open. "Lady" Thatcher?.....I don't think so; that was just a title.....these were Ladies in the proper sense of the word, who cared about their fellow human beings, and did their best to keep their husbands' jobs open and their families fed. I salute them.

Mr Scargill just behind the reporter?

Scargill was still on top wages...what a loser he was, he was same as them other idiots who use to have Ford and BL on strike.

Garry, when you talk about "The idiots at Ford and BL" are you talking about the men or the management? If you are talking about the men you may ask why it is that the car industry is doing so well now. Same men, same unions, but Japanese management.

Den s, off course I'm talking about UNIONS, when did MANAGEMENT want their workers to strike....think about it.

Garry, it's widely accepted now that car makers in the 60s and 70s would deliberately provoke strikes in order to cover up their own miserable performance. There is no getting away from the fact that things have improved immensely since British Management have been removed from the equation.

Den s, as I said before, no manager or management from any company large or small would'nt want their workforce to strike. The unions do...my point is that unions conveners/reps are still paid, while workers dont!
Have you got it now? Fords and BL would strike if some worker had a cold. Look how many times Hailwood were on strike in the 70s and 80s, and for what. As for foreign management no comment!

Garry,Mrs Thatcher most definitely DID want the Miners to go on strike, in fact she went to a great deal of trouble to make sure that they had very little alternative,has as been admitted since the strike by many of her Ministers involved at the time.
Whether Arthur Scargill got paid is a matter between him and his members,I didn't pay his wages during the strike and nor, I imagine did you.
None of what you have written explains why it is that the Unions can and do get along with Foreign Management without feeling the need to go on strike every two minutes whereas when the Industry was largely British owned and managed they could not. Could it be that the Germans and the Japanese do not have the same mindless, ingrained hatred for the Unions that some politicians and people in this country seem to have?

i know for a fact that the fords management provoked the men into going on strike when they needed to do maintaince work so that they wouldnt have lay them off and pay them