Abstract
By the start of the second Thatcher term, the three pillars of trade-union power in 1945–79 had already been effectively demolished. The corporate state which involved trade unions directly in the Keynesian-inspired reflation plus incomes policy approach had been dismantled. Trade-union legal immunities had been significantly reduced by the 1980 and 1982 Employment Acts, which tackled the sensitive question of picketing and the closed shop. And Mrs Thatcher’s determination to seek industrial victories in public-sector disputes had removed the greatest source of trade-union power — the almost inevitable government climbdown couched in the language of negotiation, compromise and consensus.
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Notes and References
F. Chapple, Sparks Fly (London: Michael Joseph, 1984) p.207.
P. Bassett, Strike Free: new industrial relations in Britain (London: Macmillan, 1987) p. 10.
M. Beenstock and P. Minford, in Monetarism and Macro-Economics (London: IEA, 1987) p. 135.
P. Hain, Political Strikes: the state and trade unionism in Britain (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1986) p.239.
See N. Hagger, Scargill the Stalinist? (London: Oak Tree Books, 1984) for a comprehensive collection of Mr Scargill’s political philosophy.
M. Crick, Scargill and the Miners (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985) p. 99.
I. Macgregor, The Enemies Within (London: Collins, 1986) p. 164.
P. Jenkins Mrs Thatcher’s Revolution: The ending of the socialist era (London: Jonathan Cape, 1987) p. 230.
J. MacInnes Thatcherism at Work (London: The Open University Press, 1987) pp. 106–7.
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© 1989 Martin Holmes
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Holmes, M. (1989). The Scope of Thatcherism and Trade-union Power. In: Thatcherism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20052-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20052-8_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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