Coal mining had always been a very dangerous job. In the three years from 1922 to 1924, 597,194 miners were injured. Although coal mining created huge profits, workers received very low wages, and the conditions were very bad. The miners felt they were being treated very unfairly. Even before the First World War, miners had been campaigning for improvements in they're working conditions and there pay, as they were so bad, so after the war, miners returned to the mines with high hopes for the future. Therefore they were particularly disappointed and upset that the politicians had not done the things they said they would. Miners who had carried on working in the mines during the First World War enjoyed many improvements in their work. This was mainly because; the government took over control of the mines. Wages were increased and standardised.
Before the war wages depended on how cheap and easy there work was at each individual mine, therefore wages varied from mine to mine. Most miners hoped that all mines would remain nationalised after the war; however in 1921 Lloyd George allowed the mines to go back into private ownership. This was because the royal Commission couldn't agree on a suitable solution to the problems in the coal-mining industry. Most members agreed that mines being nationalised would be the best idea but however this did not happen. For miners, the idea was not acceptable and should have not been considered in the first place, they were already working in miserable conditions.
The government initially decided that the conflict between the mine owners and miners was none of their concern. But in 1925, the Trade Union Congress became involved and threatened to lock-out its workers. In order to maintain control and appease the miners, the government responded by providing a twenty three million pound subsidy. A strike was temporarily avoided because both the miners- who were not receiving pay cuts- and the mine owners -who still had a reduction in the wages they paid the miners- were contented. But the subsidies were only for nine months. During this time the government set up the Samuel Commission to investigate the problems of British mining and discuss how best to increase its productivity.
The report was published in 1926, it rejected nationalisation but recognised a need for modernisation, it also recommended that subsidies should be withdrawn and miners' wages cut. The government agreed to accept the report if both sides agreed with its findings. This was unrealistic as the report made suggestions which neither party were willing to agree to. So the report was no help to the situation at all and the conflict returned to the same position as before the government intervened.
In the same month as the Samuel report was published the mine owners published a new report themselves, including the following terms of employment: an extension of the seven hour working day; a wage agreed for each district; and a reduction in all wages by ten to twenty five percent. The mine owners made it clear that if the miners did not agree to the new terms then they would lock the miners out
In response to this on 1st May, the Trade Union Congress announced a General Strike to take place on 3rd May. However leaders of the Trade Union Congress were not totally happy about the proposed strikes and spent the next two days negotiating with the Government and mine owners. If the Samuel report however had been enforced it would have just added further chaos to the dispute between miners and mine owners as neither side agreed with its findings. Baldwin was in a no win situation. Therefore the government's response was more of a hindrance to the avoidance of a general strike than a cause, because by the beginning of May it can be argued that a general strike was inevitable.
On 4th May 1926 one million miners and two and a half million other workers were called out on strike by the Trade Union Congress. The strike lasted for eight days, until 12th May. There were three main causes to the General Strike: Britain's economic crisis during this period, the problems within the coal industry and the Government's policy towards the strike. No one came out on top after the strike but Britain did manage to return to normal quite quickly and the difference between the two parties healed fairly quickly. Union leaders did however became more moderate and willing t co –operate and to compromise after the dispute.
The end of World War One was the most important cause leading up to the General Strike. All of the causes were important, however during World War One a lot of people had new jobs that they hadn't had before, and when the war was over a lot of these jobs were not needed anymore and a lot of people lost jobs and lost money. Another main cause of the General Strike were the reduction of the miner's wages, wage reductions reduced the total morale of all the workers and caused them to feel bitter towards the people they worked for. The combination of the economic crisis, a crippled coal industry and a poor government response led to the General Strike of 1926. British industry at that time was poor and the government should have reacted better to the needs of the workers.
