Scab
Certain words have more weight and significance than others, and one was particularly loaded during industrial action- and remains this way decades on
Words may just be words, but there’s no denying that some have a bigger impact than others. In the discourse of industrial action, one stands above as a term that is sharp, derogatory, and loaded with centuries of meaning.
‘Scab’ has been in use since the 13th century as the term for the piece of skin that dries over a cut. By the 1500s, the second meaning for someone who was a ‘scoundrel’ or ‘a mean, scurvy person’ was created. This meaning of the word became an insult used against strike-breaking workers, regardless of their circumstances for returning to work.
For centuries, the word has been widely used to describe workers breaking strike action and crossing picket lines. This practice dates back to the 19th century in America when striking workers used the term ‘scab’ to refer to people who refused to join unions or support strike action.
It was quickly adopted in the UK and was used in industrial disputes across the 20th century with more anger and venom with each passing occasion. The miners’ strike of 1984–85 is the best example of how the word became loaded within communities across the country.
The strike is still the longest in UK history, and although there was lots of support at the beginning the action never had complete support from miners. Many miners continued to work, and those who returned to work during the strike often did so with a police escort and were shouted at and heckled as they were ferried through the colliery gates.
The strength of the strike action was undermined by miners crossing the picket lines, but this in turn wasn’t helped by National Union of Mineworkers President Arthur Scargill refusing to call a national ballot on industrial action. Through this, communities were divided, and to a more concentrated extent, so were families.
To be called a scab during the strike was to be labelled as an outcast, as someone who was seen to be undermining the action which was a fight to save jobs and the industry. Nottinghamshire miners gained a reputation for being the area where most miners were against strike action. So much so that a second miners union, the Union of Democratic Miners’, was formed in the county.
The word ‘scab’ is still loaded and is used to describe miners who didn’t strike even 40 years on. The scars of the dispute run deep and to many striking miners, working miners will never be forgiven. It is widely accepted by those who did strike that those who didn’t enabled the Conservative government's efforts to dismantle the industry.
Miners who worked through the strike earned more in places for a while after the full-scale return to work, but in the end, all the miners had the same fate. Defeat in 1985 signalled the beginning of the end, and striking and non-striking miners alike watched collieries across the country get dismantled as the 1980s let the way for the 1990s.
Whether or not the non-striking miners were right or wrong, they were left in the same position as those who fought on the picket lines for a year. If the UDM miners thought their pits would be spared by siding with the government, they were much mistaken.
In the 21st century the word ‘scab’ remains as vitriol as ever, and everyone recognises its use as being this way because of the historical impact behind it. It's been in use for centuries to mean the same thing, and it’s not likely it will go out of fashion anytime soon.
