The People’s March for Jobs

On 1 May 1981 280 Merseyside Trade Unionists decided to march to London to protest against unemployment.  Other marches were organised from Yorkshire and South Wales and by the 31 May 150,000 people attended the final rally in Hyde Park.  A petition with 250,000 names calling for a change in Government economic policies was handed in.

On Your Bike
In the September 1981 Norman Tebbit became the Conservative Employment Secretary.  His advice to the to the unemployed was:

"I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking 'til he found it."

Following the 1981 protest march against unemployment, a second People’s March for Jobs was organised in 1983, through the Wales and Scottish TUCs and the TUC regional councils. The main march route was Glasgow to London, but feeder marches were organised from Lands End, Great Yarmouth, Liverpool, Hull and Halifax, so that many more localities could be involved in the demonstration. 60 marchers set off from Glasgow on April 23 but the numbers had grown to 500 by their arrival in London on June 3. There was a festival at the Crystal Palace on June 4 and a rally in Hyde Park attended by over 100,000 on June 5.

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