Eight-eight years ago today, on May 3, 1926, the Trades Union Congress called a national strike, commonly known as the "General Strike". This was a protest to force the government to assist coal-miners, who were being subjected to worsening conditions in the mines, as well as poor wages. At the time, there were some 800,000 miners who were locked out of their jobs.
After negotiations broke down, a strike was called to start at "one minute to midnight". A total of 1.7 million workers were to strike, with many coming from heavy industry and transportation.
The strike was to last until May 13, although many miners were still out of work many months later. The whole issue was to have serious repercussions as far as mining, and by the late 1930's, employment in the mining industry had been cut by well over a third.
This is the only general strike in British history, as union leaders later decided that they had made a big mistake in calling for such action.
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