Editing Margaret Thatcher (section)

====Industrial relations====
{{See also|GCHQ trade union ban|Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service|label2=the GCHQ case}}

Thatcher believed that the [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|trade unions]] were harmful to both ordinary trade unionists and the public.{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|pp=89–90}} She was committed to reducing the power of the unions, whose leadership she accused of undermining parliamentary democracy and economic performance through strike action.{{sfnp|Thatcher|1993|pp=97–98, 339–340}} Several unions launched strikes in response to legislation introduced to limit their power, but resistance eventually collapsed.<ref name="thatcher-cw">{{Cite news |title=Margaret Thatcher |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/thatcher |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703072749/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/thatcher |archive-date=3 July 2008 |access-date=29 October 2008 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> Only 39% of union members voted Labour in the 1983 general election.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Revzin |first=Philip |date=23 November 1984 |title=British Labor Unions Begin to Toe the Line, Realizing That the Times Have Changed |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> According to the BBC's political correspondent in 2004, Thatcher "managed to destroy the power of the trade unions for almost a generation".<ref name="bbcstrike">{{Cite news |last=Wilenius |first=Paul |date=5 March 2004 |title=Enemies within: Thatcher and the unions |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3067563.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430144439/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3067563.stm |archive-date=30 April 2009 |access-date=29 October 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The [[miners' strike of 1984–85]] was the biggest and most devastating confrontation between the unions and the Thatcher government.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Henry |first=John |date=5 March 2009 |title=When miners took on the government |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/7923138.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521105409/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/7923138.stm |archive-date=21 May 2018 |access-date=20 May 2018 |work=BBC News |location=Yorkshire}}</ref>

[[File:Miners strike rally London 1984.jpg|alt=photograph|thumb|Pro-strike rally in London, 1984]]
In March 1984, the [[National Coal Board]] (NCB) proposed to close 20 of the 174&nbsp;state-owned mines and cut 20,000&nbsp;jobs out of 187,000.<ref name="Glass">{{Cite news |last=Glass |first=Robert |date=16 December 1984 |title=The Uncivilized Side of Britain Rears its Ugly Head |work=The Record |page=37}}</ref><ref name="Black">{{Cite news |last=Black |first=David |date=21 February 2009 |title=Still unbowed, ex-miners to mark 25 years since the start of the strike |url=http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/still-unbowed-ex-miners-mark-25-4488387 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812022044/http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/still-unbowed-ex-miners-mark-25-4488387 |archive-date=12 August 2017 |access-date=5 July 2017 |work=The Journal}}</ref>{{r|pits-closed}} Two-thirds of the country's miners, led by the [[National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)|National Union of Mineworkers]] (NUM) under [[Arthur Scargill]], went on strike in protest.{{r|Glass}}<ref name="thatcher-num">{{Cite news |last=Hannan |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Hannan (presenter) |date=6 March 2004 |title=Iron Lady versus union baron |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3537463.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226200523/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3537463.stm |archive-date=26 February 2009 |access-date=20 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="Jones">{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Alan |date=3 March 2009 |title=A History of the Miners' Strike |agency=Press Association}}</ref> However, Scargill refused to hold a ballot on the strike,{{sfnp|Adeney|Lloyd|1988|pages=88–89}} having previously lost three ballots on a national strike (in January and October 1982, and March 1983).{{sfnp|Adeney|Lloyd|1988|page=169}} This led to the strike being declared illegal by the [[High Court of Justice]].{{sfnp|Adeney|Lloyd|1988|page=170}}<ref>{{Cite news |title=28 September 1984: Pit dispute 'illegal' says judge |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_2540000/2540813.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002235052/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_2540000/2540813.stm |archive-date=2 October 2018 |access-date=26 December 2012 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref>

Thatcher refused to meet the union's demands and compared the miners' dispute to the [[Falklands War]], declaring in a speech in 1984: "We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty."{{sfnp|Khabaz|2006|p=226}} Thatcher's opponents characterised her words as indicating contempt for the working class and have been employed in criticism of her ever since.{{sfnp|Moore|2015|p=164}}

After a year out on strike in March 1985, the NUM leadership conceded without a deal. The cost to the economy was estimated to be at least £1.5&nbsp;billion, and the strike was blamed for much of the [[Pound sterling|pound]]'s fall against the US dollar.<ref name="Harper">{{Cite news |last=Harper |first=Timothy |date=5 March 1985 |title=Miners return to work today. Bitter coal strike wrenched British economy, society |work=The Dallas Morning News |page=8}}</ref> Thatcher reflected on the end of the strike in her statement that "if anyone has won", it was "the miners who stayed at work" and all those "that have kept Britain going".{{sfnp|Moore|2015|p=178}}

The government closed 25&nbsp;unprofitable coal mines in 1985, and by 1992 a total of 97 mines had been closed;{{r|pits-closed}} those that remained were privatised in 1994.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 March 2004 |title=UK Coal sees loss crumble to £1m |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3531819.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131203228/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3531819.stm |archive-date=31 January 2011 |access-date=20 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The resulting closure of 150&nbsp;coal mines, some of which were not losing money, resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and had the effect of devastating entire communities.<ref name="pits-closed">{{Cite news |date=5 March 2004 |title=Watching the pits disappear |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3514549.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702053420/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3514549.stm |archive-date=2 July 2008 |access-date=20 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Strikes had helped bring down Heath's government, and Thatcher was determined to succeed where he had failed. Her strategy of preparing fuel stocks, appointing hardliner [[Ian MacGregor]] as NCB leader and ensuring that police were adequately trained and equipped with riot gear contributed to her triumph over the striking miners.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=411}}

The number of stoppages across the UK peaked at 4,583 in 1979, when more than 29&nbsp;million working days had been lost. In 1984, the year of the miners' strike, there were 1,221, resulting in the loss of more than 27&nbsp;million working days. Stoppages then fell steadily throughout the rest of Thatcher's premiership; in 1990, there were 630 and fewer than 2&nbsp;million working days lost, and they continued to fall thereafter.{{sfnp|Butler|1994|p=375}} Thatcher's tenure also witnessed a sharp decline in trade union density, with the percentage of workers belonging to a trade union falling from 57.3% in 1979 to 49.5% in 1985.{{sfnp|Laybourn|1992|page=208}} In 1979 up until Thatcher's final year in office, trade union membership also fell, from 13.5&nbsp;million in 1979 to fewer than 10&nbsp;million.{{sfnp|Barrell|1994|p=127}}