Debating Coal Closures

This book, published in the late 1980s, reproduces articles and reports which were written and gained prominence during the 1984–5 coal dispute in the UK. It is, however, more than a contribution to the history of that dispute and the associated debates about the viability and strategies of the NCB (now British Coal) and its constituent pits. The collection addresses more general issues of industrial and national policy and concerns about the interface of accountancy and economic calculation in industrial relations. The contributions offer contrasting approached to the identification and measurement of enterprise performance, including the value of accounting reports, the assessment of strategies to invest in new technology, the costs and benefits of alternative energy policies and the distinction between the national and enterprise interests. In addition, the editors’ introduction and the authors’ postscripts consider the contributions of these debates in relation to the progress and outcome of the coal dispute and thereby examine the relationship between politics, industrial muscle and calculative logics in industrial relations.