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Participation and Nationalization: The Case of British Coal from the 1940s to the 1980s

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Abstract

Participation was one of three voice mechanisms utilized by workers in the nationalized coal industry in Britain from the 1940s to the 1980s. The others were collective bargaining and trade union engagement in public policymaking. This analysis uses an extent-location-scope schema to show that worker participation in the coal industry gradually became stronger from the 1940s to the 1970s. Extent moved beyond consultation toward joint decision-making; location shifted from workplaces to regional and then national fora within the industry’s management structures; and scope broadened from work-organization to decisions on pit closures and national energy policy. Strengthening participation was accompanied by enhanced collective bargaining and union influence in policymaking until the 1980s, when the Thatcher turn irrevocably weakened each of the three voice mechanisms.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    National Records of Scotland (NRS), CB 305/1/1, NCB, Glencraig Pit Meetings, 1961–66: Minutes of a Meeting held at Glencraig Colliery, 20 February 1961; Minutes of a Pit Meeting held at Glencraig Colliery, 12 June 1961; Notes on Pit Meeting held at Glencraig Colliery, 9 February 1962; Minutes of Pit Meeting held at Glencraig Colliery, 22 February 1962.

  2. 2.

    National Mining Museum of Scotland, NUMSA, Special Delegate Conferences, 27 March and 14–16 June 1967.

  3. 3.

    NRS, CB 235/5/5, NCB North Scottish Area (NSA), Blairhall Colliery, Estimated Manpower, 4 February 1969; William McLean, NUM District Secretary, to William Rowell, NCB NSA Director, 11 February 1969; NCB SNA, Closure of Blairhall Colliery: Estimated Vacancies at collieries within daily travelling distance, February 1969; NCB NSA, Place of Residence by Categories, Blairhall, week ending 28 February 1969; NCB NSA, Age of Workmen Employed at Blairhall, week ending 22 June 1969.

  4. 4.

    NRS, CB 235/5/5, Michael McGahey, NUMSA President, to William Rowell, NCB NSA Director, 23 April 1969; NCB NSA, Minute of Meeting … to discuss the position of the men affected by the Blairhall Closure, 29 April 1969; F. Warburton, NCB SNA Head of Secretariat, to Michael McGahey, NUMSA President, 14 May 1969.

  5. 5.

    The National Archives, Kew (TNA), POWE 52/271, D. J. Turner, Ministry of Power, Edinburgh, to C. G. Thorley, Ministry of Power, Coal Division, 24 January 1967.

  6. 6.

    TNA, POWE 52/277, Brief for the Minister’s meeting with the Scottish Trades Union Congress to discuss the current problems of the coal mining industry in Scotland 15 Dec 1967, Note by R. E. Dearing, 12 December 1967.

  7. 7.

    NRS, CB 51/1, Bilston Glen Colliery Consultative Committee, NCB Scottish South Area, Meeting held on 5 December 1969 to discuss pithead meeting at Bilston Glen Colliery on 14 October 1969.

  8. 8.

    NRS, CB 212/4, NCB Scottish Area, Minutes of the Accountability Meeting, 24 February 1981; CB 121/6, NCB Scottish Area, Minutes of the Accountability Meeting, 24 June 1981.

  9. 9.

    NRS, CB 380/3/2, Polkemmet Colliery Consultative Committee, Meetings on 8 September 1982, 13 October 1982, 9 February 1983, 22 June 1983.

  10. 10.

    NRS, CB 363/3/8, Monktonhall Colliery Consultative Committee, 24 August 1983.

  11. 11.

    TNA, CAB 130/1268, Cabinet Ministerial Group on Coal, 30 May and 11 July 1984.

  12. 12.

    E. Pearce, ‘Obituary: David Hart’, The Guardian, 9 January 2011; ‘Obituary: David Hart’, The Telegraph, 5 January 2011.

  13. 13.

    Margaret Thatcher Foundation, David Hart note to MT (NCB pit closure formula), 11 September 1985, http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/133529

  14. 14.

    TNA, CAB 130/1268, Cabinet Ministerial Group on Coal, 12 September 1984.

  15. 15.

    NRS, CB 229/3/1, Bilston Glen Colliery Consultative Committee, 14 May 1985 and 18 March 1986.

  16. 16.

    Margaret Thatcher Foundation, M. F. Reidy, Private Secretary, Department of Energy, to Andrew Turnbull, Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, 14 June 1984, with copy of draft letter from Ian MacGregor to striking miners, https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/133375

  17. 17.

    NRS, CB 267/14/1, J. E. Addison, NCB, circular to industry unions, 2 October 1986.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Jim Phillips

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  1. Jim Phillips
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Correspondence to Jim Phillips .

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  1. Institute for Social Movements and Department of History, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Stefan Berger

  2. Department of Social Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Ludger Pries  & Manfred Wannöffel  & 

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Phillips, J. (2019). Participation and Nationalization: The Case of British Coal from the 1940s to the 1980s. In: Berger, S., Pries, L., Wannöffel, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Workers’ Participation at Plant Level. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48192-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48192-4_10

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