GENERAL STRIKE 100

As RMT members, you are part of one of the longest and proudest traditions of trade unionism this country has produced. And make no mistake, it wasn’t handed down to us. It was fought for and won by generations of members. By the start of the 20th century, our forebearers had turned the railways into a fortress of the workers’ movement with hundreds of thousands of members across Britain. They fought and won national strikes in 1911 and 1919, forcing the bosses to recognise them, hammering out bargaining agreements and building a decent floor of terms and conditions for rail workers. They understood that workers are stronger when they stand together, so they brought about a new era of unity. In 1913, they amalgamated the rail unions into the National Union of Railwaymen and, a year later, they stood shoulder to shoulder with our comrades in mining and transport to form the Triple Alliance. The Triple Alliance was forged from a clear understanding that it was workers – not big business, City speculators or private industrialists – who made the economy run. If the coal dug by the miners was the lifeblood of the economy, the rail and road were the arteries and veins. Stop them and the whole thing stops. This period of history reached its symbolic height in 1926 with the general strike, when nearly two million workers across Britain came out in unity. And just like in the 1980s, it started with an attack on the miners. After the First World War, the government handed the mines back to the private owners. And, as with every privatisation before or since, the result was the same: an attack on workers' pay and conditions. The mine owners tore up the national agreements that set a floor for the industry and demanded wage cuts of up to fifty per cent. And just as we would today, the miners told them where to go. “Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day” was their slogan. As a result, they were locked out and the wider trade union movement went on strike in sympathetic action. This was only possible because of the growing awareness among working people that no matter where you worked – whether it be on a train, boat or bus, down a mine or up a ladder – you shared a common interest. Every worker wants the same things: a decent wage, job security, dignified terms and conditions, an affordable place to live, public services that work, a future for our young people. But those years hammered home another lesson too: there were people who did very well out of denying workers those things. A small but powerful elite owned the economy, and they pushed their profits up by forcing our living standards down. That's the nature of class and the society we live in, whether they admit it or not. RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may/june 2026 :: RMTnews 8 GENERAL STRIKE 100 RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey celebrates 100 years of struggle since the 1926 General Strike STRIKE: Workers taking part in the 1926 General Strike