ABSTRACT
The picketing of the Hadfields private steel works on Vulcan Road in the Sheffield district of Attercliffe was a development of the 1980 national steel strike. The origins of the dispute lay in the rapid decline of the British steel industry during the mid-1970s. Partly the result of the world recession, this was also a consequence of successive British governments artificially depressing steel prices in order to provide cheap raw materials for manufacturing industry. The side-effect was to restrict profitability and hamper new investment in the industry. Initially, the decision to picket Hadfields was taken because its products were, more so than any other local private steel company, in direct competition with those of British Steel Corporation. There was also an allegation that the firm was profiteering from the strike.
