‘Run with the fox and hunt with the hounds’: Managerial Trade-Unionism and the British Association of Colliery Management, 1947–1994

Abstract

gradually disappeared as the phenomenon it was studying declined. 5 It questions characterizations of managers and white-collar trade unions.

Managerial ideology and identity in the nationalised British coal industry, 1947–1994

“…Over 15 years later in a review in the journal Scottish Labour History , McKinlay observed (2008: 52): ‘The gap between our knowledge of the changing nature of manual work and of managerial work remains considerable. Nowhere is this gap greater than in the coalfields where our image of management owes more to Germinal than to historical research.’ With a few exceptions (Perchard, 2007; Perchard and Gildart, 2018; Perchard and Phillips, 2011; Zweiniger-Bargielowska, 1990), the neglect of managers remains an impediment to a more nuanced reading of the industry. Where the aforementioned body of work exists, it has tended to be focused on specific coalfields within a specific period or with a focus on managerial trade unionism.…”

“…Nevertheless, in NCB Chairman Lord Robens (1961–71), the industry acquired a formidable champion at a difficult time. While he oversaw the peak numerically of mass closures, the decline of the industry might have been far worse were it not for his doggedness in defending the place of coal in the energy mix, incurring the wrath of his former Labour Party colleagues in the process (Ashworth, 1986) but the grudging admiration of BACM and its leader Jim Bullock (Perchard and Gildart, 2018).…”

“…Similar observations were made of South Wales managers (Aberfan Inquiry, 1966–67; Zweiniger-Bargielowska, 1990, 1992). Although no systematic studies of the social backgrounds of colliery managers in all of the British coalfields exist, the recollections of managers that do exist and observations in BACM discussions suggest that the picture in Scotland and South Wales was reflected in other coalfields (Perchard and Gildart, 2018).…”

“…In contrast, Bullock and Tyler came from miners’ families and left school respectively at 13 and 14 (the former joining his family as a miner in the pit and the latter training as a fitter). Both became trade unionists early on (with the latter working for the South Wales Miners’ Federation) and Labour Party members (Perchard and Gildart, 2018).…”

“…Weekes’ clash with MacGregor in 1985 reflected competing managerial ideologies in the industry brought to a head over the suspension of the moral economic norms and practices of the NCB, in particular its social commitments to mining communities and obligation to consult the mining unions. The differences between MacGregor and Weekes were mirrored in confrontations between the NCB Chairman and the managers’ trade union, the British Association of Colliery Management (BACM) (Perchard and Gildart, 2018), from MacGregor’s appointment in 1983, when he declared an end to the NCB’s role as a ‘social security enterprise’ (Kirby, 2006).…”