Saltley gates

[seanandruby]

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the battle of Saltley gates Birmingham. It was a victory for the miners ( google it the battle of saltley gates). At the time i was on a building site doing hodding and scaffolding. We were asked to join the miners and more than 15000 workers turned out. The police threw the towel in and the gates were closed, stopping the scab drivers leaving with the coal/coke. Arthur scargill climbed on a toilet roof to urge us on. I was disarmed of my scaf' spanners narrowly avoiding arrest as i did a runner. great day, great piss up after.

[mickg]

Arthur Scargill and the Battle of Saltley

I don't recall that actual incident but I do recall in the following couple of years my wage going up and up every few months because of what was agreed due to the strikes of 1972

[seanandruby]

Pay and conditions changed after that, proud to have been there. We ( the builders and construction ) were fighting for £1 an hour and an end to the lump. I was working for an old firm george stubbings and they were the only ones to agree but were forced not to by the big boys like bryants, wimpeys etc, although we did get it in the end. We started getting incentive bonuses, rained off money etc, happy days £10 a day.

[lutonlagerlout]

nice one sean
I was supposed to go on the poll tax march in 1991
we met in the pub the night before to work out the details
needless to say i got in at half 5
I woke up at about 3 the next day and it was game on in london
and it got rid of the hated tax
LLL

[mickg]

I was not aware that it saw the end of the lump but I was only 14 at the time and took no heed of things like that

[rab1]

what is/was the lump?.

[Dave_L]

what is/was the lump?.

Lump of wood over the back of yer 'ead?

[lutonlagerlout]

lump
a failed economic theory
LLL

[mickg]

the lump = self-employed workers in the building trade considered collectively, esp with reference to tax and national insurance evasion

you basically got a lump of cash off your employer and had to sort out your own nic and tax payments

[London Stone Paving]

I heard Bob Crowe on the radio today. He was talking about Saltley Gates. I didnt realise that Scargill was still alive.

Read up on this a bit today, that was some show of strength. sounds like it was a very significant day in achieving better pay and working conditions for everybody.