Railway strikes, the causes and the aftermaths

[George Jenkins]

I'd like to say something about our battles with governments, Labour and Tory. After the war, and with Nationalisation, the Labour Government pleaded with the Railwaymen not to rock the boat lads, and when the Railways finally pay, you will be well paid. This was at a time when industry was working full blast and factory workers were earning good money. At that time, there was a waiting list for new cars, and I had to wait about a month for a Matchless motor cycle. I needed it because of shift work, and to save me walking about five miles, or waiting up to five hours for the first train home.
We didn't rock the boat because the Labour Government is our friend ain't it, but every railway worker got six pence per week rise. That's how it was every time we got a rise, and it would be a shilling, or one shilling and six pence, and awarded to every railworker. there was always staff shortage, especially in the locomotive department, presumably because factories were cleaner than engines, and didn't suffer from the unsocial hours that we had. One morning, as a fireman on a shunting engine working at Hither Green sidings, my Driver was relieved but I wasn't. the new Driver said that I had to stop on the engine because another fireman was not available.

But I knew that the Loco Foreman had probably pinched my relief to work on the main line, so I said to Driver "book me off, I'm going fishing", and left the engine. That was really a crime then, and it warranted sacking, but I was only 17 years old and couldn't care less. However, I was reasonably safe, because they needed every man they could get.

At that time also, the railways were making a profit up to the early 50's, but whereas everything was going up in price, the railways were forbidden to raise their prices for fares and freight, and it was in the 50's they started to make a loss.

Then our friends, the Labour Government who most railwaymen voted for, and who said that we will be well paid when the railways made money, but didn't tell us when it did, was voted out of office. Now we have got the Tories in, and they didn't even try to be friendly. the Transport Minister was Mr Marples, and it was pointed out to him that there might be a conflict of interest, considering that he was into road building, and had interests in oil and motorways etc.

Being a gentleman he agreed, and transferred all his business interests to his Wife. You could definitely trust a man with principals like that.

Our Union A.S.L E.F. (Associated society of locomotive Engineers @ Fireman) saw what the Governments were up to regarding our wage rises. for example, A Driver's top rate was £8.8.6p. A Guard wages were about £6. A Porter was about £4.
If the Government is allowed to award the same flat rate increase to every railwayman--------

We'll go forward in time to when a Driver may be paid £200. 8. 6d per week
A Guard will be paid --------------------------------£198. 0. 0
A Porter will be paid--------------------------------£196. 0. 0.

On a cold foggy night the Porter will show the Guard a light and go back in his warm room
The Guard will show the Driver a green light or ring the bell, and then go back to reading his paper
The Driver will start off and if he misses a signal and kills somebody, he will be up the old Bailey and sent to prison, and all for £4 per week more than what the Porter was paid.

So! in 1955 we applied for differential wage rises, based on percentages, which of course, the Government would not accept and which led to the 1955 strike.

I was a Driver by this time, but not top rate, and I imagined that being on strike meant that I could lay in bed, and get on with things that wanted doing at home. but every day I was on picket duty and mostly at night. I had worst times on than if I had been working. We always had a Policeman in attendance, and the one that we had was very unfriendly. His holiday was cancelled because of the strike, and he kept apart from us.

Anthony Eden was the prime Minister, and he tried to get the strike declared illegal, presumably so that our Union officials could be arrested. He did not succeed. This was the man who invaded Egypt to retake the Suez canal on behalf of of the shareholders, when President Nasser Nationalised it just like our industries were Nationalised. The invasion didn't succeed, because the American President, Eisenhower, ordered it to stop, and the Army had to slink back home. So ended the last independant action ordered by the british Government, which ended the myth of a powerful Country, Us. Since then, we have become the faithful poodle supporting America with their invasions and killing. During the 1982 strike, our Branch Secretary had his house searched by plain clothed police. What were they looking for? Plans for a Communist take-over? Plots to assassinate politicians? And you thought that dear old England was a democratic Country and the land of the free?

After sixteen days the whole country started to close down, and the T.U.C. talked our Union into going back to work. A committee would discuss our case. we got a rise in wages of three shillings per week, with the promise of an inquiry into our wage structure. We had the Guillebaud report which recommended a rise in wages and all Drivers will be paid the same. So instead of me waiting another two years for my top rate, I got it at once. I went from about £7 per week to just over £12. I was rich at last but that position didn't last long of course. Other industries just kept going ahead, and we stood still again. But the principle of percentage wage rises was established, so we won in the end.

To be continued--- The strikers and those that worked.

[John Bosley]

Glad you are back at it, George. I like to relax when I read your stuff so I'm printing it off.

[George Jenkins]

Glad you are back at it, George. I like to relax when I read your stuff so I'm printing it off.

I'm quite relieved John. I was worried in case I'm boring people

[David Williams]

Then our friends, the Labour Government who most railwaymen voted for, and who said that we will be well paid when the railways made money, but didn't tell us when it did, was voted out of office. Now we have got the Tories in, and they didn't even try to be friendly. the Transport Minister was Mr Marples, and it was pointed out to him that there might be a conflict of interest, considering that he was into road building, and had interests in oil and motorways etc.

The Tories won in 1951, but Marples wasn't Transport Minister till 1959. I didn't know about his business interests. Surprising, given that half the cars in the country carried 'Marples Must Go' stickers at the time. He certainly wasn't the motorist's friend. I'd always thought of Beeching as being your problem by that time.

[George Jenkins]

Glad you are back at it, George. I like to relax when I read your stuff so I'm printing it off.

I'm quite relieved John. I was worried in case I'm boring people

Back to the strike, I was on picket duty at what we called the sleeper track, which was a path which led from a main road, up to the signal box and then on to Hither green Loco shed. Our job was to intercept men who intended to work, and try to get them on our side. My companion was old Lou Dixon, and we were always together. I would collect him on my motor bike, and the sleeper track was our regular pitch every night. (When the strike was over, it was a relief to sleep in my own bed at night).

Every morning at about 6 A.M. the traffic would be at a standstill in front of us, and we were thankful for the policeman standing there near us. The traffic was on the way to London, and all the roads were the same. This was before motorways of course, and I wonder if our strike accelerated the building of them, to reduce the importance of the railway.

Talking about old Lou Dixon, (actually, he was only about five years older than me), when he was a top link Fireman, His Driver would always have one particular Saturday night off, every 12 weeks. this was because his train was the 9.15 P.M. from Charing Cross to Dover, and the return working was a heavy freight over the Maidstone east line (all up and down the steep banks and hope that you can stop). He was the senior Driver, and obviously nervous driving fast trains in the dark. To get his own back, the Roster Clerk would book the youngest Driver to do the job, and that was always me every 12 weeks. When Lou was in the R.A.F. and in the war in france, he saw a Dakota plane fly over, but it sounded like a German Dornier. He reported it and a couple of Spitfires were sent up to force it down. It was a captured plane and fitted with German engines, and was photographing allied positions.Lou was mentioned in dispatches for that little episode.

A couple of blokes would pass us on the way to the Loco, but we were unable to change their minds. Before the strike began, my own Fireman informed me that he was going to work through the strike, make as much money as he could, and then leave the Railway when the strike was over. He did not belong to a union, and he could be described as a genuine blackleg.

He worked with a Driver whose Wife ordered him to work, (I'm not joking because he told us himself, and knowing the man, we could believe it) Every day they worked as long as they could, and they had to be ordered to go home when they'd worked over twelve hours every day.

When the strike ended, nobody would talk to the men who worked, and the sense of camaraderie that we used to have, changed. I noticed a remarkable change in my own Fireman. Before the strike he didn't seem interested about the job, and I frequently had to tell him to damp the footplate down and sweep up the coal and dust which which he sprayed over the footplate. Very often the steam pressure was down, but I tolerated that If it was just enough to do the job.

Now There was always plenty of steam, the footplate always swept and damped, and I think that he knew that the old easy going ways were over. I had my own tea can and only spoke if it was in the course of our duties. If you think that it was childish behaviour, I can only say that you had to be there to sense the contempt that we had for the men who worked, mostly non-union men. they were not our friends any more full stop. I'm talking about the men who wanted to make as much overtime as possible, not the ones who were N.U.R. men and did their 8 hours and went home. My Fireman lasted 3 weeks and left the railway.

I was talking to one of those N.U.R. men about 40 years later. We were going home on a train and the 1955 strike came up in our conversation. I said to him "You had a rough time in those days" and he said yes he did. He said " Before the strike I used to go to some of the Fireman's houses, because they were going up to pass as Drivers. They'd left it late to learn the rules and parts of the engine, so I'd give them a crash course to help them through. They all passed. After the strike, they'd spit on my boots".

I could hear the bitterness in his voice, and that was after 40 years had passed.

Before the strike he was one of the drivers teaching Firemen the rules etc in our improvement class. this was all voluntary and one evening when no Driver had turned up, I decided to give a lecture to the rest of the Firemen, and as you know, I love bashing people's ears with lectures. While I was talking two Drivers turned up and insisted that I carry on with my lecture. So I explained that an engine had failed and the rules that applied to assistance to the rear of the train by another engine etc. One clever wag then said "What's the engine failed with then". I went along with it and said "I don't know, say a tube's gone and and he's got no steam" Then I said " Right, what's the whistle code between the two engines when they are ready to start". There was dead silence, then the wag said "but you said that the failed engine ain't got no steam". there was roars of laughter and I said "Sod".

I had the satisfaction though of knowing that none of the other Firemen had the nerve to give a lecture. Our class room was an old coach with no wheels. We had a stove taken from a Guards brake, and in winter I would get there early to light it up. We were lovely and warm.

Continued ------

[George Jenkins]

Then our friends, the Labour Government who most railwaymen voted for, and who said that we will be well paid when the railways made money, but didn't tell us when it did, was voted out of office. Now we have got the Tories in, and they didn't even try to be friendly. the Transport Minister was Mr Marples, and it was pointed out to him that there might be a conflict of interest, considering that he was into road building, and had interests in oil and motorways etc.

The Tories won in 1951, but Marples wasn't Transport Minister till 1959. I didn't know about his business interests. Surprising, given that half the cars in the country carried 'Marples Must Go' stickers at the time. He certainly wasn't the motorist's friend. I'd always thought of Beeching as being your problem by that time.

Thank you for that update David. I didn't know exactly when Marples was Transport Minister, and I don't think that he was a friend of railways. I read somewhere that the Tories held a meeting to decide which form of transport must have priority. It was decided that roads and cars were the future, and developing the railways would come second. I jumped to the conclusion that because Marples was into road building, He would be instrumental in furthering that decision. His firm was called Marples Ridgeway, and I believe that Ridgeway was his Wife.

Beeching was not our problem, I believe that he was only carrying out orders, after all, what did he know about railways, and the needs of people. He was paid nearly £200,000 to strike a pencil through a lot of branch lines. I could have done that job for a fiver

About Marples and the stickers, I don't remember those. At a guess, I would suppose that it might be about traffic laws, and not road building. With luck, one of our readers might enlighten us.

[David Williams]

I'm very surprised you don't remember 'Marples Must Go'. One of my abiding memories of the dying days of the "13 wasted years" of Tory rule. But I think that was more to do with parking meters, and I assume Beeching was merely employed (by Marples presumably) to produce recommendations. I'd never made the connection to Marples Ridgeway. Interesting.

Would you agree, though, that in those days we had a population increasingly able to afford, and want, cars and an absolutely appalling road system. Germany had a network of autobahns before the war. Five miles of the Preston by-pass opened in the late fifties was the best we could do.

[George Jenkins]

I'm very surprised you don't remember 'Marples Must Go'. One of my abiding memories of the dying days of the "13 wasted years" of Tory rule. But I think that was more to do with parking meters, and I assume Beeching was merely employed (by Marples presumably) to produce recommendations. I'd never made the connection to Marples Ridgeway. Interesting.

Would you agree, though, that in those days we had a population increasingly able to afford, and want, cars and an absolutely appalling road system. Germany had a network of autobahns before the war. Five miles of the Preston by-pass opened in the late fifties was the best we could do.

I absolutely agree with you David. A car gives you freedom and mobility, and I had a succession of old bangers. I would much rather jump in the car, than wait on platforms for trains. A story about Marples in the debate about Trains or motorways. Marples spoke about a conversation with a train Driver. The Driver said that he wouldn't dream of going on holiday by train. He used his car because of the convenience and ease of carrying etc. Marples said "there you are, even the train Drivers don't want to use the trains.

When I retired, I bought a new car even though I can travel free on the railway. I reluctantly sold it last year, in order to make the roads safer for other road users. As to your argument, I surrender.

[Rosemary Roberts]

Germany had a network of autobahns before the war.

Hitler was very keen on the Reichsautobahnen. They were much promoted, both as propaganda and as a means of reducing unemployment. During the war, people demolished some sections in order to harvest the tarmac as fuel. No doubt they risked being shot.

Although German roads are now very good, I would rather travel on German railways. They are clean, fast and almost always arrive bang on time. But the complexity of actually buying a ticket is rapidly catching up with the UK.

[George Jenkins]

Germany had a network of autobahns before the war.

Hitler was very keen on the Reichsautobahnen. They were much promoted, both as propaganda and as a means of reducing unemployment. During the war, people demolished some sections in order to harvest the tarmac as fuel. No doubt they risked being shot.

Although German roads are now very good, I would rather travel on German railways. They are clean, fast and almost always arrive bang on time. But the complexity of actually buying a ticket is rapidly catching up with the UK.

Regarding timekeeping Rosemary, the south eastern region suffered with an unsolvable problem. Everybody seemed to want to get to London at the same time in the morning, and leave at the same time in the early evening. One way to cure that was staggered working hours, but that didn't happen. So many extra rush hour trains were needed, and it only needed one to brake down or to be late for some reason, and the whole time table would be put out.

When you consider the routes from Dartford to London I.E. the Greenwich line, north kent line, Bexleyheath line, Dartford loop line, Sevenoaks to London line, Hayes and Sanderstead lines, and every one of those lines converging to just two lines at Borough Marked junction between London Bridge and Waterloo, you can see that it didn't take much to disrupt the timetable

That was why the work to rule actions were so effective. Although the Management gave us the rule book, the last thing that they wanted us to do, was to abide by it.

Getting back to the Aftermath of the 1955 strike, I don't think that the men who worked realised the extent of the hostility they would suffer when the strike was over and nobody would talk to them. One Driver on another region hanged himself, and the Daily Mirror printed a full front page picture of the A.S.L.E.F. strike badge, and called it, "the badge of shame". I remember one Driver at our Depot who was an outgoing and jolly man, changed completely into a quiet and almost recluse man, sitting on his own in the Driver's lobby, with everybody ignoring him.

It was the same in the 1982 strike over flexible rostering. We'd be in the Driver's lobby with the usual chatting and laughter. I've got my back to the door and it would open. I would see the eyes of my mates look over, and not utter the usual welcome or friendly insult, and I would feel the sudden chill in the room and know that a "blackleg" had just come in. He would make his tea and sit in the corner away from us. Before the strike he would sit with us and we would help ourselves to his tea. (we always shared), but now he's got the whole Teapot to himself.

We had brothers, and if one had worked in the strike, his brother wouldn't speak to him. in one instance, years later, the older brother who had worked died, without his younger brother ever speaking to him. Another pair didn't speak for years, but at a recent reunion, I saw them together. An example of the bitterness that a strike could cause, was in the general strike of 1926. A street where a man worked was called scab alley for years after. Some memories are very long.

As the years went by the feelings of the men gradually mellowed, and the men who worked were able to join in as before. But! Whenever I talked to one of them, My first thought would be, "You worked"