The miners’ strike

LAST UPDATED AT 13:50 ON Tue 10 Mar 2009

Jack Collins, Secretary of the Kent division of the National Union of Mineworkers, addresses a picket in Tilmanstone Colliery near Dover in 1984 during the year long industrial action. Under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Tories intended to close down loss-making mines and mechanise others. Miners opposed the measures, which would result in mass redundancy and a weakened union.

Jack Collins, Secretary of the Kent division of the National Union of Mineworkers, addresses a picket in Tilmanstone Colliery near Dover in 1984 during the year long industrial action. Under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Tories intended to close down loss-making mines and mechanise others. Miners opposed the measures, which would result in mass redundancy and a weakened union.