Undermining the Union: The National Union of Mineworkers since 1985 Available to Purchase

In 1972, the NUM defeated Edward Heath's public‐sector incomes policy, and two years later contributed to his Government's downfall. The miners' militancy, which exploited the bargaining opportunity created by the return to industry‐wide pay determination and the oil shock of 1973, led to the tripartite agreement Plan for Coal, which appeared to guarantee a future for Britain's coal industry after 17 years of decline. From the return of the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher in 1979, however, the industry experienced further decline, which accelerated after the defeat of the 1984–85 strike. The demise of the coal industry has inevitably been accompanied by a dramatic reduction in the Union's bargaining power, but the campaign against the colliery closures announced in October 1992 suggests that an obituary for the former ‘vanguard of the labour movement’ would be premature.