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Building workers 1972: a strike whose time had come
Half a century ago building sites reached boiling point after years of declining conditions and casualisation — skilled and unskilled labour struck together, using mass open-air meetings and flying pickets to win, writes EILEEN TURNBULL
More than 1,000 building trade employees march through Birmingham’s city centre, 1972
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THIS year is the 50th anniversary of the many industrial disputes that took place in 1972, when trade unionists stood up to defend pay, jobs and working conditions. They included coal miners, dock workers, engineers and railway workers.
The late Bob Crow remarked: “Everyone keeps saying that we are going back to the 1970s. What was wrong with the 1970s?” The significance of these disputes is that they all succeeded, even though workers faced employers who were backed up by Ted Heath’s right-wing Tory government.
June 26 marks the anniversary of the start of Britain’s first and only national building workers’ strike. It was long overdue. The construction industry was notable for low pay and high accident rates. The employers were encouraging the spread of casual employment, known as “lump labour,” to cut costs and to undermine trade union membership and organisation.
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