Strikes

Patriotic appeals to boost production and make endless sacrifices had a limited effect. Some wartime workers did very well. Those employed in aircraft factories could earn up to £20 a week (£400 a week today) - at a time when the average industrial worker's wage was £6.50. But some workers resisted changes in their industries, especially the employment of unskilled workers to do skilled workers' jobs at unskilled rates of pay (known as 'dilution').

When power-riveting came in, requiring only one man instead of two, the shipbuilding unions insisted that a second man should still be employed beside each riveter. This extra man had nothing to do. Strikes in the shipbuilding industry were frequent, especially on Clydeside in Glasgow. In 1941 110,000 working days were lost in disputes in the Clyde shipyards alone. This figure could have meant that 110,000 workers, for example, went on strike for one day or 11000 workers went on strike for ten days.

Miners were also frequently involved in disputes with their private employers. Miners were poorly paid and were angered that some women aircraft workers were earning as much as £10 a week. The miners' union demanded £6 a week for their members. To try to achieve this, 220,000 miners went on 'unofficial' strike - that is, without the approval of their union. Workers remembered how their fathers had been treated after the First World War. Once that war was over, many found themselves without work; unemployment during the 1930s affected one in every five. The workers, this time, seemed determined to make the most of the fact that their skills were now much in demand because of the war.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 61