RIP Maggie the greatest leader this country has ever had, and before all you lefty militant types start harping on about her ruining the country bla de bla de bla, have a look at the outrageous behaviour of scargill and the unions who were holding the country to ransom, demanding massive pay increases, cutting the power refusing to collect garbage three day weeks etc etc. It was the unions that brought this country to the state it's in not Baroness Thatcher.
Thatcher apologists always refer back to the Winter of Discontent and 'unions out of control' in the 1970's as a way of justifying her actions.....but no-one ever questions WHY the unions did what they did and most don't even know what the Winter of Discontent was all about. Most assume it was greedy union bosses flexing their muscles to earn unfair wages rises for their members.
I was only a kid throughout the 1970's, I didn't really know myself what went on, so I looked it up.
Harold Wilson's government tried to impose a 5% pay rise limit on not just public sector workers but private sector ones too, using a pact made with the unions to abandon collective bargaining powers, in an attempt to curb inflation.
Now inflation ran at 15-20% during that time, so those workers were effectively taking a 10-15% pay CUT year on year whilst shareholders and bosses in the private sector at least were reaping in the benefits of the inflation in prices. So much so that bosses at Ford risked the government's wrath and awarded a 15% pay rise to their workers (a pay rise they could clearly afford). So everyone else decided enough was enough and started pushing for higher pay awards of their own.
Its hardly 'union greed' when a working man fights and strikes just to maintain his existing standard of living, and even if it was, why was it never considered greedy of the private sector companies to keep on inflating prices (and profits) when the unions had agreed to the 5% cap ?
As always the story has two sides, but in revisionist, post Thatcher doctrine, the only side that is ever told (and sadly accepted by the majority) is the one that paints the unions as those at fault and out of control.
Spart, you need to Know what happened before Maggie to get the big picture of why the country was in such a state, the unions brought this country to it's knees long before the Thatcher years. They simply could not go on with their ridiculous pay demands 30% in some cases. They were effectively running the country with their bully boy tactics and Maggie was having none of it.
Read this snippet below, I know everybody loves to hate Maggie even the people who weren't born when she was in power but the unions MUST shoulder the blame for bringing this once great manufacturing country to it's Knees.
The Labour Party dominated British politics from 1964 to 1979. Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, who served between 1970 and 1974, was the only Conservative prime minister to be in office during this period. The trade unions controlled the Labour Party, and no Labour Prime Minister could effectively oppose union activity. Militant trade unionism was another problem Britain had during the 1970s.
Unlike many other countries, Britain did not have a strong, centralized labor organization that could negotiate a deal and make workers abide by it. Irresponsible union power on the shop floor was a major cause of Britain's poor economic performance. Union leaders would often contend with the management, and if their demands were not met, they would call an unofficial strike (wildcat strike).
In 1973, the National Union of Coal Miners took advantage of the oil shock and struck. The miners demanded pay increases far beyond normal. They were supported by the rail and electrical unions. Edward Heath (Conservative) fought the unions by limiting coal consumption, but was voted out of office in 1974. The coal miners got the raises they demanded.
The Labour governments of Wilson and Callaghan that succeeded the Heath government attempted to control wage increases, but with little success. In 1975, the wages rose 30%, despite the social contract to limit wage increases negotiated between the government and the unions. Steep wage increases fueled inflation, which fueled even greater demands for pay raises.
If I may say so that seems to be a very biased account of what happened, probably written by a Thatcherite.
Factually it looks correct, its the facts it leaves out that tell the whole story though. The social contract with the 1974 Labour government WAS being abided by the unions, but it WASN'T helping inflation to come down as had been its purpose. So the workforce was effectively taking a pay cut year on year to try and reduce inflation whilst the prices continued to go up (who do you think was therefore benefitting from the extra cash ?)
The first people to break the social contract were the TGWU workers at Ford, Ford very quickly offered a pay rise way above the level of the social contract because they'd had a very good year trading and surplus cash (probably from all that inflation). After that, the gloves were off and everyone asked the question (rightfully IMO) why should I burden the responsibility of lowering inflation when nobody else is ?
I have heard stories of bully boy tactics on the shopfloor by shop stewards and leaders and I think that's where a lot of the animosity towards the unions from people who worked at the time comes from. There is no excuse for that of course and perhaps the unions did need the shock of a real adversary to face to reel them in, but she did go way too far to achieve it, so far in fact the country is still today feeling the ongoing effects of it.
But again there are two sides to every story, for every decent hard working chap that was bullied by the unions, there was a p1ss taking chancer that happily shyt on everyone else for his/her own ends. Take the example I heard from some old boy on Radio Merseyside yesterday who was a fitter at Camell Lairds and reminisced how the unions got an equal pay deal in for all workers so that he could benefit from being paid the same rate as others who's skills had previously been valued higher......then along came the three day week, and whilst his colleagues were struggling on low wages, he and his mate worked out they could volunteer for a certain shift pattern that with overtime rates meant he could get paid more for working 30 hours than he'd previously been paid for working 45 hours. Very enterprising you might say and good luck to him.....except he sort for all those months of struggle to keep his little scam to himself whilst his colleagues struggled and told no-one else of the loophole in the company's pay structure in case it meant he couldn't benefit from it anymore himself.......unsurprisingly this selfish, lowlife TWAT was also on the radio to espouse the merits of Thatcher as PM.