page_title: 1942 Betteshanger miners' strike
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: 1942 Betteshanger miners' strike / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Black Lake from Fowlmead Country Park The lake is part of the Cottington Lakes coarse fisheries and the photograph is taken from the spoil heap of Betteshanger colliery which has been made into a country park. http://www.fowlmead.co.uk/
context_page_description: The 1942 Betteshanger Miners' Strike took place in January 1942 at the Betteshanger colliery in Kent, England. The strike had its origins in a switch to a new coalface, No. 2. This face was much narrower and harder to work than the previous face and outputs were reduced. The miners proved unable to meet management production quotas and the mine owners refused to pay the previously agreed minimum daily wage, alleging deliberate slow working. An arbitrator called in to review the dispute ruled that the quotas were achievable. The miners disagreed and went on strike from 9 January.
  Under wartime regulations, Order 1305, striking was illegal unless the matter had been referred to the Ministry of Labour and National Service for settlement. Prosecutions were made against the strikers; three union officials were imprisoned and 1,085 men fined. The prosecutions hardened the strikers' attitudes and after the strike entered its third week the government began negotiations. A settlement was reached to reinstate the minimum wage and for the men to return to work on 29 January. The imprisoned men received a royal pardon on 2 February and the fines were remitted in July 1943.
context_section_description: The three officials were the last men to be sentenced to imprisonment under Order 1305 during the war; others would spend time in prison for these offences but only as a result of non-payment of fines.  The Betteshanger strike was the most publicised strike of the war and the only one to affect coal mines during the Second World War.  The government deliberately limited production quotas after works resumed at Betteshanger, restricting the productivity of the mine.  The mine maintained its militant tradition and was the last in the country to return to work after the 1984–85 miners' strike.  The colliery, the last remaining in Kent, was closed in 1989.
  Order 1305 was not repealed until 1951.  Though intended to limit the number of strikes, the frequency during its period of operation (1940–51) was actually greater than in the period 1931–39.  Because of this the 1968 Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations cited Order 1305 and the Betteshanger strike as an example of the ineffectiveness of outlawing strikes.  However Bogg et al (2020) note that, as the economic conditions experienced during the Order 1305 era meant that strikes were more powerful during this time than previously, it is possible that without the order there would have been more strikes.  In all, some 109 prosecutions against 6,000 workers were brought during the Second World War, though many were dropped entirely or the defendants merely bound over to keep the peace.
caption: The site of Betteshanger Colliery in 2008, now part of a country park
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