The importance of solidarity, an essential ingredient in successful trade union action.

Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers, addresses an enthusiastic audience at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. His fiery speech praises the miners' determination and solidarity, which he credits for bringing representatives of the National Coal Board, the body running the coal mining industry, to the negotiating table. He also talks about the restrictions imposed on free movement in the mining areas and attacks policing tactics towards those on picket lines. After a standing ovation and a collection for the striking miners, the film concludes with an excerpt from a speech made by Labour MP Tony Benn, and scenes in the Hall at the end of the rally as the crowds disperse.

On 6th March 1984, the National Coal Board announced that it intended to close 20 pits in Britain, the first being Cortonwood Colliery in South Yorkshire. This announcement was the catalyst for the miners' strike which lasted for a year. When Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers, called for the strike against pit closures, there had been no national ballot of NUM members. This, some claimed, made the strike technically illegal. From the start, the industrial action was hard-fought, sometimes violent, and often bitterly divisive, as in Nottinghamshire, where some miners continued to work despite calls for solidarity. There was much support for the strikers within their own communities, with women setting up local action groups to provide food and other necessities for families facing real hardship. Elsewhere, miners from the South Wales collieries gave their full support, and the strike received international media coverage with Christmas presents for the children of striking miners being sent over from Europe. The country's coal stocks were high, however, and without strong support from other large trade unions, the strike could not continue indefinitely. On 3rd March 1985, the NUM's National Executive voted narrowly in favour of calling an end to the action. The miners returned to their workplaces, marching proudly behind their banners and with the support of their families. The failure of the strike was followed by a programme of pit closures carried out by the Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher, causing huge upheaval in mining areas where the coal industry had been the major source of employment for local workers. In these areas the effects of the miners' strike can still be felt today.