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Rally remembers Battle of Saltley Gate anniversary | Rally remembers Battle of Saltley Gate anniversary |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Arthur Scargill and former miners are among people who attended a rally marking the 40th anniversary of a strike which involved thousands of workers in Birmingham. | Arthur Scargill and former miners are among people who attended a rally marking the 40th anniversary of a strike which involved thousands of workers in Birmingham. |
About 30,000 workers, mainly engineers, walked out in support of striking miners on 10 February 1972, in an event which became known as the Battle of Saltley Gate. | |
Many joined 2,000 miners trying to force the closure of Saltley Coke Works, which had remained open four weeks into a national miners' strike. | Many joined 2,000 miners trying to force the closure of Saltley Coke Works, which had remained open four weeks into a national miners' strike. |
Mr Scargill, then an activist from the Yorkshire region of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), led the strike - which was the miners' first national strike in nearly 50 years. | Mr Scargill, then an activist from the Yorkshire region of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), led the strike - which was the miners' first national strike in nearly 50 years. |
Miners' wages had fallen behind other comparable industries because of high levels of inflation. | |
Within weeks of the strike, the government agreed to the miners' demand for a 43% pay rise. | |
Peter Jackson, from the Birmingham Trades Council which organised the anniversary rally, said: "The victory on the 10th of February was a battle between the working class and the government - which the working class won." | Peter Jackson, from the Birmingham Trades Council which organised the anniversary rally, said: "The victory on the 10th of February was a battle between the working class and the government - which the working class won." |
Mr Scargill said he would never forget the efforts of the workers of Birmingham. | |
"No longer were they prepared to to see miners beaten day by day - they were coming to our aid and for that we are eternally grateful," he said. | |
"And we'll remember them, well certainly in my case - to my dying days." | |
Mr Scargill said the memorable day in 1972 was also a lesson. | |
"It's no good simply commemorating the event, we need to use this experience in today's term. And that means opposing the attacks which are taking place in health, education - a whole range of things." | |
Prof Stan Siebert, from the University of Birmingham Business School, believes that in 1972 Prime Minister Edward Heath, who threatened a wage freeze, had forced the unions' hands. | |
"Why was he printing so much money and then blaming the unions for the inflation?" he said. | |
But he thinks that the legislation introduced during Margaret Thatcher's government to restrict union power was a necessary step. | |
"The 1984 strike was pursued in a very different environment, and I think that was the end of Scargill," he said. |
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