Strikes and Solidarity

In this important contribution to the study of industrial relations, Roy Church and Quentin Outram present research into the strike activity of British coalminers from the late nineteenth century to the mid-1960s. The authors consider not only the major national strikes and lock-outs which made the industry a byword for industrial militancy, but also the multitude of small-scale strikes which formed a routine part of British colliery lifes. Strikes and Solidarity, first published in 1998, is multi-disciplinary in approach and views coalfield conflict from the perspectives offered by sociologists, industrial relations specialists, and economists, as well as social and economic historians. Church and Outram have successfully blended quantitative and qualitative investigations to explain the long-standing issues presented by industrial relations in the coalfields.