Miners’ Strike timeline

1984

• 1 March
  National Coal Board (NCB) announces closure of Cortonwood pit in Yorkshire – miners at the pit walk out
• 6 March
  Scottish and Yorkshire areas of the NUM make strike official
• 12 March
  Half the country’s miners are on strike – this rises to over 80 percent over the course of the strike
• 15 March
  David Jones, miner aged 23, killed while picketing in Ollerton, Nottinghamshire
• 29 March
  Transport unions ban the movement of coal
• 19 April
  NUM special conference ratifies strike action
• 25 April
  Yorkshire miners’ leader Jack Taylor does deal with the ISTC steel union to allow 30,000 tons of steel a week to be produced at Scunthorpe works
• 3 May
  British Steel use heavy lorries to break picket lines
• 12 May
  Scottish miners’ leader Mick McGahey agrees to allow normal steel production at Ravenscraig
• 14 May
  Some 40,000 striking miners march in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
• 23 May
  The Aslef and NUR rail unions settle their pay dispute, preventing them striking alongside the miners
• 25 May
  Scab “working miner” groups emerge with government and business backing
• 30 May
  Scargill arrested at Orgreave. More than 80 other miners arrested and 62 injured
• 15 June
  Joe Green, a miner, is crushed to death while picketing at Ferry Bridge power station
• 18 June
  Second mass picket at Orgreave with 5,000 miners. Official figures show more pickets injured than police for first time. Scargill hospitalised
• 27 June
  TUC day of action. Some 50 schools take unofficial strike action and over 50,000 people march for the miners
• 9 July
  Dock strike starts against movement of coal.It is called off after ten days
• 14 July
  25,000 attend Durham Miners’ Gala
• 31 July
  High Court fines South Wales NUM £50,000 under anti-union laws – the first time the union is fined under the laws. Labour leader Neil Kinnock says, “The courts will have their way.”
• 23 August
  Second national dock strike over unloading of coal, lasts over three weeks
• 3 September
  TUC votes to support miners. This support never materialises
• 28 September
  Members of Nacods, the pit deputies’ union, vote by 82.5 percent for strike
• 24 October
  Nacods pit deputies’ leaders call off strike
• 26 October
  High Court orders the sequestration (seizure) of NUM funds
• 2 November
  NCB offers miners a back to work cash bonus
• 5 November
  Neil Kinnock refuses to speak at a series of rallies with Scargill
• 21 November
  Government cuts supplementary benefits to £16 per week for strikers’ families
• 30 November
  Courts appoint Herbert Brewer, a Tory Party official, as the receiver to control NUM assets and funds
• 5 December
  Ian MacGregor announces plans to privatise pits
• 7 December
  TUC says it will not take action in support of NUM

1985

• 7 January
  NCB claim 1,200 miners return to work across country
• 24 February
  Mass rally in London for the miners sees many arrests
• 28 February
  NCB head Ian MacGregor pledges that sacked miners will not be re-employed
• 2 March
  Yorkshire votes to continue strike
• 3 March
  NUM conference votes 98 to 91 to return to work
• 5 March
  Miners march back to work. All of Scargill’s predictions about pit closure plans are proven correct in years to come