Introducing Thatcherism by Peter Pugh

Author:Peter Pugh
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785780127
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd

Trade Union Membership and Stoppages

Total membership Working days lost through stoppages

(per thousand employees)

(m) (% of employees) UK USA France Italy Australia

1979 13.3 57.4 1270 230 180 1920 780

1980 12.9 56.4 520 230 90 1140 630

1981 12.1 55.3 190 190 80 730 780

1982 11.6 54.2 250 100 130 1280 370

1983 11.2 53.4 180 190 70 980 310

1984 11.0 51.8 1280 90 70 610 240

1985 10.8 50.5 300 70 40 270 230

1986 10.5 49.3 90 120 30 390 240

1987 10.5 48.5 160 40 30 320 220

Also contributing to a less militant approach by unions has been the growth in unemployment. It rose to just over 1 million at the end of the Callaghan government in 1978, enabling the Saatchis to make a big impact with their advertisement showing a long dole queue and the slogan “Labour isn’t working”. However, under Thatcher’s government, unemployment rose sharply to 3 million and did not start to fall until 1986. It then fell rapidly to under 2 million by 1990 but rose again to nearly 3 million by 1993.

Ben Roberts, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations at the London School of Economics, and the first President of the International Industrial Relations Association from 1965-73, said: The reform of industrial relations and the results that have followed must rank as one of Mrs Thatcher’s greatest achievements. Government policies … have resulted in a significant reduction in union power, which has brought considerable benefits to all sections of society.

Enoch Powell, whom most Thatcherites admired, but who did not always feel the same about them, certainly admired Thatcher’s tackling of the union problem.

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