1970s
In 1971, he was elected as leader of the NUM and presided over the national strike that began on 9 January 1972. The strike lasted for seven weeks and, after a month, caused widespread power cuts. Emergency measures were used to economise on electricity by reducing the working week to three days. After much negotiation the strike was resolved on 25 February 1972 with a 21% increase in pay and concessions won by the miners.
Only two years later, NUM members voted again for to strike and stopped work on 4 February 1974. Prime Minister Edward Heath called a snap election on this issue, asking the public, "Who governs Britain?" Gormley tried to persuade the National Executive Conference to postpone the strike until after any election, but the strike went ahead. After the election brought in a new Labour government, the union's demands were met. The new National Coal Board "Plan for Coal", launched that year, was extremely ambitious in its scope of expansion of the coal mining industry.
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