UK miners' strike (1984–1985) (1984 - 1985)

The UK Miners’ Strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement. It was also seen as a major political and ideological victory for Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party.

The strike became a symbolic struggle, since the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was, if not the strongest, then one of the strongest in the country. The strike ended with the miners’ defeat, and the Thatcher government being able to consolidate its free market programme.

The political power of the NUM was broken permanently. The dispute exposed deep divisions in British society and caused considerable bitterness, especially in Northern England and in Wales. Ten deaths resulted from events around the strike: six pickets, three teenagers searching for coal, and a taxi driver taking a non-striking miner to work.

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