Start the Week Industrial action: from 1926 General Strike to today
Mar 30, 2026
Isabel Berwick, Financial Times journalist on the future of work; Jane Holgate, Professor of Work and long-time trade union organiser; David Torrance, constitutional historian of the 1926 General Strike. They trace how the 1926 strike unfolded, government and media responses, union strategies and aftermath. Then they jump to modern labour: the gig economy, AI, remote work, legal fights and changing employer-employee power.
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Volunteer Labour Kept Services Running
- Volunteer middle-class workers and special constables maintained a semblance of normality by running transport and distribution during the nine days.
- Inexperienced volunteers caused accidents and some deaths, but their presence reduced the strike's immediate disruption.
TUC Lacked A Cohesive Strategy
- The TUC entered the strike without a clear, executable strategy and rapidly sought an off-ramp when disruption mounted.
- Sir Herbert Samuel brokered a compromise the TUC trusted would be implemented, but the government gave no guarantees.
1926 Triggered Long Term Union Decline Then Rebuild
- The strike left the movement demoralised and weakened union influence until postwar nationalisations rebuilt density and bargaining power.
- By the 1970s union density peaked above 50%, but today it's around 22% with private sector far lower.
