1974-1978: the Social Contract [print version]
Heightened class struggle in the early 1970s was neutered by a Labour government and trade union establishment working in tandem…
News/Views
Living on borrowed time
Another month, another prime minister. And yet underneath nothing has changed at all. British capitalism, the oldest in the world and arguably the most cunning, is out of ideas and out of time.
Some honest thinking, at last
The TUC congress met in Brighton from 18 to 20 October. Much of the agenda was routine and predictable, but some unions are thinking honestly and hard about the future of their industries and of Britain.
Redundancy blow at Meggit
Workers at Parker Meggitt found out in mid-October that around 200 jobs will go by the end of the year – only weeks after being taken over by a US rival…
Flooring workers continue pay battle
27 October 2022
Workers in Bury at flooring manufacturer Polyflor are renewing their strike for better pay. The company’s improved offer is still below the level of inflation.
Defence: Priority call
Unite has called on the government to prioritise British jobs and industries when tendering for defence contracts.
Imported politics spark riots
Violence broke out in Leicester in September – the unwelcome result of Indian sub-continent politics coming to Britain in a city where immigrants have settled and lived for decades, for the most part peacefully.
Dairy Products: Drivers strike
Around 70 HGV drivers and shunters at Muller’s Stonehouse factory in Gloucestershire are to escalate their dispute...
1974–78: the Social Contract, trade unions and the Labour government
27 October 2022
Struggles erupted in the early 1970s, notably the engineering union’s destruction of the 1971 Industrial Relations Act and the miners’ fight over pay. The new Labour government preached class conciliation in exchange for moderation of wages.
Barristers: Offer accepted
Criminal barristers voted in October to accept an improved pay offer from the government...
Docks: Liverpool walkouts
Nearly 600 workers at the Port of Liverpool decided to walk out from 24 October to 7 November over pay and job security.
Biomass: EU blow to forests
On 13 September, the European Parliament voted to keep the definition of woody biomass as renewable energy.