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Coal mining strikes occurred
in North Staffordshire on a number of
occasions throughout the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. The image above was taken
at Florence Colliery in Longton during the 1912
coal strike, when people were forced to scavenge
on waste tips to find coal.
The
miners' strike of 1984 - 1985 was the longest
strike of the twentieth century and was observed
in coal mining areas across the country. It came
about in response to a program of pit closures
and poor salary increases which heralded the end
of the coal industry in Stoke-on-Trent. In 1984
five mines remained in Stoke-on-Trent, employing
just over 6000 people, and all were effected by
strike action.
In many areas the police were accused of being
heavy handed and violence was a feature of
numerous picket lines. Flying pickets (miners
who did not work in Staffordshire) came from
Yorkshire and South Wales to join the local
strikers.
The strike caused financial hardship to many
miners and their families, and to local
businesses who relied on the miners for trade.
The North Staffordshire Miners' Wives group ran
food centres and street collections which helped
to alleviate the desperate circumstances many
families found themselves in.
Click here
for images of the 1984/5 miners' strike
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