Three-Day Week - Background

Background

Throughout the mid 1970s, especially 1974 and 1975, the British economy was troubled by high rates of inflation. One of the government's strategies to tackle this was to cap pay rises. This caused unrest amongst trade unions in that wages were struggling to keep pace with prices. This extended to most industries, most notably an industry where there was a powerful union – coal mining.

By the middle of 1973, the National Union of Mineworkers had encouraged their members to work to rule – as a result, coal stocks slowly dwindled. The global effect of the 1973 oil crisis also drove up the price of coal. The Heath government entered into negotiations with the NUM, to no avail. To reduce electricity consumption, and thus conserve coal stocks, a series of measures were announced on 13 December 1973 by Heath, including the "Three-Day Work Order", more commonly known as the Three-Day Week, which was to come into force at midnight on 31 December. Commercial consumption of electricity would be limited to three consecutive days each week. Heath's objective was business continuity and survival. Rather than risk a total shutdown, working time was reduced with the intent of prolonging the life of available fuel stocks.

In the February 1974 general election the Conservative campaign emphasised the dispute with the miners and used the slogan "Who governs Britain?" The election resulted in the Conservatives losing seats, but gaining the largest share of the vote, while Labour became the party with the most seats in the Commons, but without an overall majority. Heath failed to secure sufficient parliamentary support from the Liberal and Ulster Unionist MPs, and Harold Wilson returned to power for his third term. The normal working week was restored on 8 March, but other restrictions on the use of electricity remained in force. A second general election was held in October 1974 and saw Labour gain a majority of three seats.

When the next general election was called in May 1979, Labour reminded voters of the Three-Day Week in the election campaign, with a poster showing a lit candle and bearing the slogan "Remember the last time the Tories said they had all the answers?" However, the tactic failed to prevent a Tory election win which made party leader Margaret Thatcher prime minister. Her campaign benefited from the Winter of Discontent, in which a wave of strikes the previous winter had crippled the country. Their campaign slogan was "Labour Isn't Working".