Assistant general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions HENRY FOWLER reports on day 1 from the GFTU’s residential Summer School at Quorn Grange Hotel
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Tony Merrick – a tribute to one of the Pentonville Five whose imprisonment helped bring down a Tory government
Tony Merrick (centre)
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Tony Merrick, who has just died was one of five shop stewards arrested in July 1972 whose imprisonment led to threats of a general strike, and helped to bring down a Tory government.
Over six days thousands of trade unionists flooded into the streets of London to protest at the arrests of the five Transport and General Workers Union pickets. Industry ground to a halt as workers all over the country walked out in support.
The mens’ arrest would become one of the defining moments in post-war industrial relations. Actions taken against the Pentonville Five as they became known would bring Edward Heath’s government into further disrepute resulting in his divisive Industrial Relations Act being largely shelved and his new formed National Industrial Relations Court (NIRC) losing all credibility.
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