Strikes in Post-War Britain: A Study of Stoppages of Work Due to Industrial Disputes, 1946-73

First published in 1983, Strikes in Post-War Britain provides the first systematic long-run examination of official strike statistics since the war. It is based on a wealth of new material and analysis.

The overall strike pattern is first compared with the relevant data on economic activity rates―e.g. movements in prices, output, and employment. Theories linking strikes with variations in all these factors are examined in some detail. Studies of strike prone industries and occupations are analysed and tested against the background of institutional and other changes. Sections follow on the role of government, law, and the impact of incomes policy. The role of management and the influence of union militancy are also examined.

A final chapter suggests the way in which these and other factors have combined to produce Britain’s varied and varying propensity to strike. An attempt is made to assess the cost and consequences of strikes for management, workers, and the British economy. The result is a standard work which challenges a whole series of assumptions about strikes. Economic factors are found to be less helpful explanations than political change, or legal developments. Bargaining reform and trade union government are shown to have had a significant impact on the form and timing of certain significant changes in the volume of strike activity. Nobody who wishes to discuss seriously the causes and consequences of Britain’s so-called ‘strike problem’ can afford to remain ignorant of the main conclusions of this book.

J.W. Durcan, at the time of the first publication, was Senior Lecturer in Industrial Relations at Oxford Polytechnic.

W.E.J. McCarthy was a British Labour politician. He was one of Britain’s most experienced mediators and arbitrators and served as an adviser to several Governments and public bodies.

G.P. Redman, at the time of the first publication, was Lecturer in Industrial Relations at Southwest London College.