Editing Winter of Discontent (section)

==Lorry drivers' strike==
With the government now having no way of enforcing its pay policy, unions which had not yet put in pay claims began to increase their aim. [[Lorry]] drivers, represented by the TGWU, had demanded rises of up to 40 per cent on 18 December; years of expansion in the industry had left employers short of drivers, and those drivers who had jobs often worked 70–80 hours a week for minimal pay.<ref>{{harvp|López|2014|page=90}}</ref> The [[Road Haulage Association]] (RHA), the industry trade group, had initially told [[Secretary of State for Transport]] [[Bill Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank|William Rodgers]], a member of the Labour Party's right wing who had become sceptical of the public's appetite for the completion of the party's socialist programme, that it would stay within the 5 per cent ceiling but as 1979 began, the RHA, whom Rodgers saw as disorganised and easily intimidated by the TGWU, suddenly increased its offer to 13 per cent, in hopes of settling before strikes became widespread.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rodgers |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank |title=Fourth Among Equals |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0L0hAQAAIAAJ |page=181 |publisher=Politico's |date=2000 |isbn=978-1-902301-36-5}}, cited at {{harvp|López|2014|page=92}}</ref>

The offer had the opposite effect. Drivers, emboldened by memories of a strike the previous winter by South Wales hauliers that won participants a 20 per cent rise, decided they could do better by walking out. The union's national leadership was, as they had anticipated in their September dinner with Callaghan, doubtful they could restrain the local leaders. On 2 January Rodgers warned the Cabinet that a national road-haulage strike was about to happen, but cautioned against pressuring the RHA to improve their offer even more.<ref>{{harvp|Rodgers|2000|page=180}}, cited at {{harvp|López|2014|page=93}}</ref>

The next day an unofficial strike of all TGWU lorry drivers began. With petrol distribution held up, petrol stations closed across the country. The strikers also [[Picketing|picketed]] the main ports. The strikes were made official on 11 January by the TGWU and 12 January by the United Road Transport Union. With 80 per cent of the nation's goods transported by road, and roads still not completely cleared from the earlier storm, essential supplies were put in danger as striking drivers picketed those firms that continued to work. While the oil tanker drivers were working, the main refineries were also targeted and the tanker drivers let the strikers know where they were going, allowing for flying pickets to turn them back at their destination. More than a million UK workers were laid off temporarily during the disputes.

In [[Kingston upon Hull]], striking hauliers were able to blockade the city's two main roads effectively enough to control what goods were allowed into and out of the city, and companies made their case to their own nominal employees to get past the barricades. Newspaper headlines likened the situation to a siege, and the [[Battle of Stalingrad]]; fears that food supplies would also be impacted fuelled [[panic buying]]. Such coverage often exaggerated the reach of the strikers, which served both their interest and their employers'.<ref>{{harvp|López|2014|page=94}}</ref> It also helped the Conservatives disseminate the arguments of "Stepping Stones" about unionism out of control to the public; letters to the editor across the country reflected a growing public anger with the unions.<ref name="harvp|López|2014|page=107">{{harvp|López|2014|page=107}}</ref>

Due to the disruption of fuel supplies, the [[Cabinet Office]] prepared to implement previous plans for "Operation Drumstick", by which the [[British Army|Army]] were put on standby to take over from the tanker drivers. However, the operation would need the declaration of a [[state of emergency]] in order to allow conscription of the assets of the oil companies, and the government drew back from such a step on 18 January. Rodgers in particular was opposed to it, since the available troops could at best only make up for a very small portion of the striking drivers, and it might be possible to use them more effectively without declaring an emergency.<ref>{{harvp|Rodgers|2000|page=183}}, cited at {{harvp|López|2014|page=101}}</ref> Before the situation developed into a crisis the oil companies settled on wage rises of around 15 per cent.

The Cabinet also decided that same day that it would not take action to limit any hauling company's profits, thereby allowing them to increase their offer to the strikers. Rodgers was so disheartened by this that he wrote a resignation letter to Callaghan, saying "the Government is not even in the front line" and accusing it of "defeatism of a most reprehensible kind". He ultimately decided to remain in the Cabinet.<ref name="Lopez 101-103">{{harvp|López|2014|pages=101–103}}</ref>

A further plan was drawn up to call a state of emergency and safeguard essential supplies through the Army, regarding which the government warned the TGWU leadership, which resulted in the union accepting on 12 January 1979 a list of emergency supplies which were officially exempt from action. In practice, what counted as an emergency was left up to local officials of the TGWU to determine, and practice across the country varied according to the views of the local shop stewards who established "dispensation committees" to decide. When strikers in [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] did not allow the correct mix of animal feed through to local farms, the farmers dropped the bodies of dead piglets and chickens outside the union offices; the union contended that the farmers had actually wrung the chicken's necks to kill them, and the piglets had been killed when the sow rolled over and crushed them.<ref name="Lopez 105–06">{{harvp|López|2014|pages=105–106}}</ref>

Demonstrations against the strike took place in Liverpool and Manchester, met by counterdemonstrations in support. In [[Birmingham]], violence erupted on 17 January when three hundred women working at the [[Cadbury Schweppes]] plant in [[Bournville]] heard that a flying picket was moving into place to attempt to block a delivery. Swinging their handbags and umbrellas, they quickly drove away the striking lorry drivers, whom they outnumbered by twenty to one. The incident made national news.<ref name="Lopez 105–06" />

Some hauliers attempted to return to work without waiting for an offer. A group in the [[Shropshire]] town of [[Oakengates]] organised a convoy, but it was unable to leave town as the ungritted roads proved too slippery to drive.<ref name="Misery Monday">{{cite news|last=Andrews|first=Mark|title=Misery Monday: Then was the winter of our discontent|url=https://www.expressandstar.com/news/politics/2019/01/26/misery-monday-then-was-the-winter-of-our-discontent/|newspaper=[[Express & Star]]|date=26 January 2019|access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref>

On 29 January, lorry drivers in the South West accepted a deal awarded by an [[arbitration|arbitration panel]] of a rise of up to 20 per cent, just £1 per week less than the union had been striking for; this settlement proved a model which was accepted throughout the country.

After the drivers returned to work, some media outlets took a second look at the shortages and found that they had been more a matter of fear than reality. ''[[The Economist]]'' reported that many predicted shortages of foods had not actually taken place. Douglas Smith of the Employment Department recalled years later that he only recalled certain breakfast cereals being out of stock, and Rodgers, too, agreed that the job losses had not been as severe as they seemed they would be but the fears of disruption had had an impact on the national mood even if little of what was feared had actually come to pass.<ref name="Lopez 101-103" />