ABSTRACT
The years following the 1926 stoppage were some of the worst the miners had ever experienced. The higher wage rates which they received for the first few months in no way corresponded with the temporary sharp increase in the price of coal. As the trade returned to normal wages were gradually reduced in accordance with the terms of the settlement until, in September, 1927, they were regulated by the district ascertainments. The coal-owners’ insistence on district settlements and the longer working day had served only to aggravate the problems of the coal industry. The situation was complicated by the existence of the Spencer union. By the beginning of 1927 the Nottinghamshire and District Miners’ Industrial Union had framed its rules and was rapidly expanding. The employers, who had agreed to recognize only the Spencer union, discovered after taking legal advice that they could not deduct contributions from wages, as originally proposed, without violating the Truck Act.
