The Three-Day Week, 1974

The “Three-day week”, 1974

In December 1973, Mr Edward Heath, the Prime Minister, announced a series of short-term austerity measures to tackle the power problem as a result of the coal miners’ refusal to work overtime pending a new wage settlement. One of these measures was the “Three-Day Week Order”, which came into force at midnight on 31st December 1973. It came to be more commonly known as the “three-day (work) week”, the aim being to conserve coal supplies and electric power so that business could continue and survive. Rather than risk a total shutdown, work time was reduced with the intention of prolonging the life of available fuel stocks. It was a dark and chilly period indeed, with pay cuts of up to 40% for 15 million British workers, massive unemployment, and sharp curtailments in industrial production.

As far as St Gregory’s was concerned, the school remained open but only for the examination classes of the fifth and sixth forms. Years one to four were required to remain at home, a state of affairs that lasted for several weeks.

In school, many rooms were out of use and senior pupils were taught in certain “heated” rooms. Some teachers had very little teaching to do, with some having no classes at all. Others, on the other hand, continued to be busy with examination work at O-level and A-level. Many teachers were confined to the small and inadequate staff room at the time, the former English classroom (Room 1) on the ground floor. 

Eventually there was a return to normality as the rest of the pupils returned and school life resumed as in previous times.