Abstract
The winter of discontent was long and harsh. It began on 28 September 1978 with a strike at Fords which lasted for nine weeks, and finally petered out in mid April 1979 as members of civil service unions brought to a close their series of sporadic strikes. There were six and a half months of industrial disputes culminating in eleven weeks of general misery and chaos, when it was often the weakest members of the community, including the terminally ill, who suffered most.
Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York. W Shakespeare, King Richard III
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References
The main sources for this chapter are: The Economist July 1978—May 1979. The Times July 1978—November 1978. The Daily Telegraph December 1978—May 1979 (The Times was on strike for a year, beginning in December 1978).
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© 1991 Charles G. Hanson
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Hanson, C.G. (1991). The Winter of Discontent. In: Taming the Trade Unions. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21319-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21319-1_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-55902-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-21319-1
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