Winter of Discontent

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Strikes began when 72,000 Ford workers "downed tools" and walked off the job, leaving 23 Ford factories across the country empty.

The phrase Winter of Discontent refers to the British winter of 1978-1979, when widespread strikes marked the largest stoppage of labour since the 1926 General Strike as the working classes and the Trade Unions rebelled against the socialist government incumbent at the time. The period was marked by food shortages, power cuts, household refuse uncollected, and even the dead were left unburied.

Origin of the phrase

"Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this sun of York" was written by Shakespeare in his play Richard III (1594). It actually means that the period of discontent or unhappiness is ending, winter marking the end of a cycle. The phrase was used to describe the social and industrial unrest of the 1978-79 winter by the political editor of the British national newspaper The Sun.

Background

The "discontent" of British workers had been building for several years; inflation had reached 26.9% in August 1975, and the incumbent Labour government under Prime Minister Harold Wilson introduced a "cap" on pay increases for workers at limits set by the government, and far below the rate of inflation. For workers earning under £8,500 ($17,000) a year the maximum pay increase could not exceed £6 ($12) per week. By 1978, inflation had almost halved, but the government refused to remove the caps, fixing the maximum pay increase at 5%. However, at the end of 1977, firefighters had gone on strike and, despite being forced back to work (the strike had ended violently, with the firefighters even attacking their own Union officials whom they felt had betrayed them), achieved a 10% increase, followed in early 1978 by further concessions from the government, giving them an increase in real terms of 20%. Furthermore, their salaries became index linked against inflation, a privilege which had previously only been accorded to the Army Chiefs, police and judges, as a compensation for not being allowed to strike. The firefighters had however still retained the right to strike. Told that their rises would still be capped at 5% the remainder of the already disgruntled workforce took notice of how the firefighters had been successful in "defeat" and began to see how weak the government had become when challenged by direct action.