User:Spookyaki/sandbox
| Spookyaki/sandbox | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Striking workers waiting to be admitted to Albert Hall, 27 September 1919 | |||
| Date | 26 September-5 October 1919 | ||
| Goals | Wage increases, stabilization for different grades of employment | ||
| Resulted in | NUR victory | ||
| Parties | |||
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| Lead figures | |||
The 1919 United Kingdom railway strike was an industrial dispute which lasted nine days (midnight 26–27 September until 5 October), leading to a victory by the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR).[1]
The strike was called to prevent the government from reducing rates of pay that had been negotiated by the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) and NUR during the First World War and to standardize pay rates for different grades of employment.[2] After nine days of strike action, the government agreed to maintain wages until September 1920 and to complete wage negotiations before the end of the year.[3][4][5]
Background
[edit]First World War
[edit]During the First World War, the United Kingdom experienced wartime inflation.[6] The cost of living drastically increased, with food prices rising substantially between 1914 and 1916.[7] Railway workers were especially affected by the war. Rising inflation caused real incomes to drop while workloads increased due to wartime mobilization. In 1914, a truce had been negotiated between unions and railway companies, forestalling discussions of wage increases until the end of the war.[8] However, by 1915, many workers were having difficulty affording basic provisions.[9]
In order to meet the needs of the workers, union organizers pushed for a "war bonus" from companies. This war bonus would be nationally negotiated, bypassing the need for unions to broker agreements with individual companies. They originally called for 5s a week, with the assurance that the government would cover 75% of the cost of the bonus. The companies, meanwhile, called for 2s a week. Ultimately, the two sides brokered a deal where workers whose rate was less than 30s a week would receive 3s while workers whose rate was greater than 30s would receive 2s. Further negotiations took place over the course of the war. By its end, the war bonus, reimagined as a "war wage," had been increased to 33s for adult men, with smaller increases for women and boys.[10][11]
Post-war developments
[edit]During the war, the government had controlled most aspects of the economy, including industry, extraction, and agriculture. It also directly set food prices via the Ministries of Food Control and Agriculture.[12] However, after the war ended in 1918, the government began to remove controls on prices and wages that it had introduced during the war. This led to an increase in inflation.[13]
In order to safeguard the gains made by workers during the war, NUR and ASLEF presented a program to the government in November 1918.[13] This program included demands for the conversion of war wages into real wages, standardized service conditions across railways, equal representation for railway workers and employers on railway management, and an eight-hour workday. The government acquiesced to the demand for the an eight-hour day in January 1919, with the new hours becoming effective in February. Wages were also stabilized by an agreement reached in March, which precluded wage reductions until the end of the year.[4]
Negotiations continued throughout the year, with payment structures for different grades of employment being the primary point of contention.[4] While the government was willing to grant substantial wage increases to locomotive drivers, they were not willing to do so for porters, conductors, and other railway workers. Negotiations broke down in September, with a telegram calling for a strike going out from Eustom station on September 25.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ "Circular: National negotiations". mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk. NUR. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ a b Bagwell 2022, pp. 377-386
- ^ "The National Union of Railwaymen, 1913-2013". University of Warwick. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
- ^ a b c "The Railway Strike". The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. 10 (37): 30–54. 1919. doi:10.1080/00358531909412239. ISSN 0035-8533.
- ^ Bagwell 2022, pp. 398
- ^ "Walking wounded: The British economy in the aftermath of World War I". CEPR. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
- ^ Benson, Nicholas P. (2015). "First Food Policy and Voluntary Rationing". Sweet Tea: The British Working Class, Food Controls, and The First World War (Honor's thesis). College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University. p. 26. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
- ^ Raynes 1921, pp. 172-173
- ^ Bagwell 2022, pp. 344-347
- ^ Bagwell 2022, pp. 348-349
- ^ Raynes 1922, pp. 174-229
- ^ Tawney, R. H. (1943). "The Abolition of Economic Controls, 1918-1921". The Economic History Review. 13 (1/2): 1. doi:10.2307/2590512.
- ^ a b Butler-Brown, Clemmie (5 August 2022). "The National Railway Strike, October 1919". Hornsey Historical Society. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
Sources and further reading
[edit]- Bagwell, Philip S. (29 November 2022). The Railwaymen: Volume 1: The History of the National Union of Railwaymen. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003358220. ISBN 978-1-003-35822-0.
- Raynes, John R. (1921). . Leeds: Goodall & Suddick – via Wikisource.