On this day, 10 January 1979, as the UK ‘Winter of Discontent’ neared its peak, the number of lorry drivers across Scotland and northern England on wildcat strike against the government’s pay restraint reached 50,000. Drivers picketed ports and warehouses to stop fleets of trucks moving goods. By the end of the strike, many bosses would have gone massively beyond the government’s 5% cap with some offering their drivers pay increases of as much as 22%.
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