No steel, no TV, and no burgers: How industrial action in a single company threatened to bring British economy to a standstill

Banken Ralf and Stokes Ray

Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, 2009, vol. 50, issue 2, 219-230

Abstract: Because of its centrality to all other industries, combined with its high levels of capital-intensity in its production and distribution networks which hinder market entry for competitors, the industrial gases industry which produces gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and acetylene is of central importance to the industrial economy. The same characteristics make it simultaneously highly vulnerable to disruption. This article considers the causes, course, and consequences of industrial action at British Oxygen Company (BOC) in 1977, followed by threats of industrial action in the following two years. The company′s actions are considered in the context of the political and economic climate of the period.

Keywords: industrial gases industry; industrial action; British Oxygen Company (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1524/jbwg.2009.50.2.219 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:jbwige:v:50:y:2009:i:2:p:219-230:n:20

DOI: 10.1524/jbwg.2009.50.2.219

Access Statistics for this article

Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook is currently edited by Dieter Ziegler

More articles in Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().