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Black Friday, in
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
labour history, refers to 15 April 1921, when the leaders of transport and rail unions announced a decision not to call for
strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Working class, work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Str ...
in support of the miners. The epithet 'black' derives from a widespread feeling amongst labour radicals that the decision amounted to a breach of solidarity and a betrayal of the miners. Black Friday caused the
1921 United Kingdom census The United Kingdom Census 1921 was a census of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that was carried out on 19 June 1921. It was postponed for two months from April due to industrial unrest and no census was taken in Ireland due to th ...
, which had been planned for 24 April, to be pushed back to June.


Triple Alliance

In the 1890s and the first two decades of the 20th century, increasing efforts were made to bring about amalgamations of small, local
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
s and to forge links between different organisations, with a view to securing united action. The
National Transport Workers' Federation The National Transport Workers' Federation (NTWF) was an association of British trade unions. It was formed in 1910 to co-ordinate the activities of various organisations catering for dockers, seamen, tramwaymen and road transport workers. History ...
was created in 1910 to co-ordinate the actions of trade unions representing dockers, seamen, tramwaymen and others and in 1912 the
National Union of Railwaymen The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. The largest railway workers' union in the country, it was influential in the national trade union movement. History The NUR was an industrial union ...
was created as an amalgamation of a large number of local and sectional organisations representing rail workers. In 1914, the rail and transport unions came together with the
Miners' Federation of Great Britain The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales, Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' ...
to form the Triple Alliance. Although the agreements did not constitute a binding agreement, the formation of the alliance was recognised as a vehicle for united action by the largest and most powerful industrial groups.


Mining crisis, March 1921

In the aftermath of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the Triple Alliance and united action in general were regarded by many trade unionists as a defence against the threat of wage reductions occasioned by the onset of economic depression. A complicating factor was that both the coal industry and
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
s had been controlled by the state during the war and were not immediately returned to private hands. The Coalition- Liberal Government of
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
was unwilling to impose wage reductions, as this would provoke strike action against the government, with political implications. Reductions for miners were postponed until the industry was de-controlled on 31 March 1921. Miners who refused to accept the reductions were locked out of employment.


Decision

Following the imposition of the reductions, it was widely expected that the transport and rail unions would strike in support of the miners. However, on 15 April, the executives of the NTWF and NUR announced that they would not recommend strike action. One reason cited by the union leaders was that the miners' representatives had made comments suggesting that they, themselves, were not prepared to strike against the reductions. More broadly, transport and rail union leaders accused the MFGB of expecting support from other unions but refusing to involve those unions in negotiations over the dispute. The principal seamen's union, the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union held a ballot which resulted in the proposal for strike action being defeated by 59 votes.


Aftermath

Despite the decision against fully-fledged strike action, transport and railworkers were ordered not to handle imported coal. Some workers were unhappy with this limited action. In
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, for example, the
Scottish Union of Dock Labourers The Scottish Union of Dock Labourers was a Glasgow-based trade union for waterfront workers. It was formed during the seamen's and dockers' strikes of June–July 1911. Locally, it replaced the National Union of Dock Labourers, which had been ...
broke with the policy of the Transport Workers' Federation and called its members out on strike on 7 May. On the same day, wage reductions were imposed on merchant seamen, leading to a well-supported general strike at the docks which lasted for over a month. Transport and rail leaders were widely criticised for their actions, with
J. H. Thomas James Henry Thomas (3 October 1874 – 21 January 1949) was a Welsh people, Welsh trade unionist and politician. He was involved in a British political scandals, political scandal involving budget leaks. Early career and trade union activiti ...
of the NUR and
Robert Williams Robert, Rob, Robbie, Bob or Bobby Williams may refer to: Architecture * Train %26 Williams#Robert Edmund Williams, Robert Edmund Williams (1874–1960), Canadian-American architect * Robert Williams (architect) (1848–1918), Welsh architect a ...
of the NTWF being singled out for particular criticism. For their part, union leaders pointed to the difficulties of resisting the wage reductions in a period which had a lot of unemployment, alleged that there was little support for sympathy action amongst rank-and-file dockers and railwaymen and argued that the involvement of other workers would only lead to needless sacrifices on their part. Williams was expelled from the Communist Party following this.Williams, Robert
, ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
''
In 1925, when the government agreed to grant a temporary subsidy to the mining industry so as to avoid wage reductions, the day on which the decision was announced became known as '' Red Friday'', in imitation of Black Friday.


References

{{Portal, Organized labour 1921 labor disputes and strikes History of mining in the United Kingdom National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) Labour disputes in the United Kingdom 1921 in the United Kingdom British trade unions history April 1921 in the United Kingdom