Sheffield retro: When city shops had to use candlelight due to strikes and staff at the Fiesta nightclub walked out

Six million working days were lost to industrial action in the first six months of the decade alone. Successive governments tried and largely failed to curb the runaway power of unions in the era – in fact it wasn’t until Thatcher took on the NUM in 1984 that the tide was truly turned against them. There hardly seemed to be any business that wasn’t prepared to walk out when there were issues to be fought over in the 1970s – union power was absolute.Even the staff of the biggest nightclub in Europe - the Fiesta cabaret club in Sheffield - walked out in 1976.

Just five years earlier, in 1971, postal workers went on strike for the first time ever. But nothing compared to the miners’ strike of January 1972. They came out in protest against a £2-a-week pay offer by the Coal Board.The miners were well organised and the Government ill-prepared (unlike Thatcher who stockpiled coal in readiness for a strike the following decade).By the middle of February 1972 the miners had succeeded in shutting 14 power stations because of coal shortages. The actions were unprecedented. Backed into a corner, the Conservative Government under Prime Minister Edward Heath declared a state of emergency, and a three-day week ensued.The miners returned to work and the state of emergency was lifted a few days later but union issues were by no means over. The Government introduced statutory prices and incomes policy as inflation was running at a staggering 25 percent. But in May 1973 the powerful TUC called a strike against it and got the support of 1.6million workers.Though the situation started to ease in the summer, things took another turn in the direction of crisis because of the Arab-Israeli War which was causing a worldwide oil shortage and soaring prices at the pumps.Petrol ration books were issued and a 50mph speed limit introduced. The miners, choosing the moment when Prime Minister Heath was at his most vulnerable, then demanded a pay increase of more than the Government maximum. The miners also introduced an overtime ban and power and railway workers quickly followed suit.In December another three day week was introduced; if shops wanted to open on non-electricity days they were free to do so but had to use lamps or candles for lighting. Television programmes ended at 10.30pm to encourage people to go to bed early!Libby Jones said: “I have two abiding memories of the era: being a hairdresser and having customers sitting in semi-darkness with wet hair in rollers waiting for the power to come back on and at home boiling a kettle on the open coal fire to make up my baby’s feed!” Malcolm Moore said: “Though the union’s grip was total in the ‘70s but even I was surprised when the Fiesta staff went out of strike.”

*Content supplied by Neil Anderson.