Social Status of Coal Miners in Britain Since Nationalization

ABSTRACT. Until World War I, coal miners in Great Britain were cut off, socially and geographically, from the mainstream of life in the society around them. Slavery in Scotland and serfdom throughout the rest of Britain were characteristic conditions of coal miners in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and well into the eighteenth century. Even after the Reformation, repressive laws, designed to prevent miners from leaving the industry, made more onerous the master‐servant relationship even though it was being ameliorated elsewhere. Mineworkers shared in the gradual improvement of living conditions in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The isolation of mining communities, and the low status accorded miners by society, insured that changes were slower in coming. Poverty, unemployment, and the interwar depression years for the industry defeated attempts to break down barriers and to improve miners’ living and working conditions. Wages, working conditions, fringe benefits, day‐to‐day labor‐management relations, housing, recreational facilities, and educational opportunities all sharply improved after nationalization. Today most miners still feel they are rated lower in the social scale than they are entitled to be by the nature and importance of their work. Both their appreciation of gains and their resentment of shortcomings exert an influence on industrial relations. The presence of both elements has provoked contradictory interpretations, usually to the effect that nationalization has not worked. Actually most mineworkers feel better about themselves, about the industry and its management. The status of miners among workers is higher than it has ever been. Coal miners feel entitled to improve their position still more.