Letter: Trade unions' work practices played into hands of Thatcher

They look at what they claim to be the effect, choosing to ignore the cause of what Mrs Thatcher had to do.

The cause occurred over the period from 1964 with the first Harold Wilson Labour Government, through the weak Tory Government of Edward Heath, and through the disastrous second Wilson Government and culminating with the James Callaghan Labour Government.

Throughout this period, the trades union movement tried to and in a lot of cases succeeded in holding the country to ransom. Those of us who lived through this period will recall their wildcat strikes bringing industries to a standstill. Picketing not only their own companies but those of other workers to stop them working also.

We can recall the demarcation disputes, which resulted in three men doing in this country, the work that one man did in emerging countries such as Japan and West Germany. Thus pushing up the costs of these companies, which resulted in them being uncompetitive, and eventually closing down with the loss of jobs.

We can recall the three day weeks forced on us by the NUM picketing power stations and the regular four hours on and four hours off of power cuts, in the middle of a very cold February. All of these things and many more culminated in the 1978/1979 Winter of Discontent. With rubbish piled up in the streets and even the dead could not be buried.

More coal mines were closed before Mrs Thatcher came to power than through out her time as Prime Minister or since. In fact from late 1978 and onwards, coal was being brought in from Poland cheaper than it could be mined in the UK.

The British public were totally fed up with all of the TUCs antics, its no wonder that they turned to Mrs Thatcher, not just in one election but three consecutive elections. It wasn't the electorate that removed Mrs Thatcher from office but the Tory MPs who did that.

MP Round, Telford