战时英国的政府、工会和煤矿:开采中的健康与安全(1939～1945)

The State,Trade Unions and Health and Safety in Coalmining in Wartime Britain,1939-1945

1939年9月第二次世界大战爆发,英国政府集中精力在全国进行全面战争动员。增加煤炭生产对有效贯彻这一战争行动来说至关重要。A. R.格里芬(A. R. Griffin)和克里斯·威廉姆斯(Chris Williams)等历史学家主要从劳工史的角度考察了英国的煤田,大多忽视了政府增加生产和改善工人状况的举措。本文受到亚瑟·麦基弗和罗纳德·约翰逊对20世纪矿工的呼吸疾病所做的医学调查的启发,将利用英国政府和工会档案馆的一系列档案资料来撰写。虽然自工业革命以来矿工中就一直存在煤尘和呼吸疾病的问题,本文将揭示政府一心为备战而增加生产如何造成煤矿中职业健康被忽视的问题。文章将表明,虽然通过了措施和法律,但缺乏统一标准预防和控制这个国家的矿工粉尘问题,这意味着,为了增加生产支援战争,矿工的健康继续遭到忽视。实际上,政府决定为增加生产引入对工人的经济奖励,却忽视改善工作场所安全状况的措施,这本身就反映了他们对于矿工工作状况的回应和态度。本文将探索矿工工会和政府在这一问题上的关系。不过,尽管围绕这一主题的研究众多,工作场所的安全问题很大程度上并没有得到深入研究,直到战后年代也没有进行过详细的讨论。

When the Second World War began in September 1939,the British government’s efforts were focused on the complete mobilization of the nation for war.Increased coal production would be essential to the effective prosecution of the war effort.Historians such as AR Griffin and Chris Williams have examined the British coalfield largely from a labour history perspective,with government initiatives to increase production and improve workers’conditions largely overlooked.This paper,informed by the work of Arthur McIvor and Ronald Johnson’s medical survey of colliers’respiratory illnesses in the twentieth century,will draw on a range of archival material from government and trade union archives in Britain.While the problem of coal dust and respiratory illnesses among colliers had existed since the industrial revolution,this article will reveal how the government’s preoccupation with increasing production for the war effort led to the issue of occupational health in coalmines being neglected.It will show that while measures and laws were passed,the lack of uniform standards for the prevention and control of dust in the nation’s collieries meant that the health of colliers continued to be neglected in favour of boosting production for the war effort.Indeed,the government’s decision to introduce financial incentives for workers to increase production,while neglecting measures to improve workplace safety was indicative of their response and attitude towards colliers’working conditions.This article will trace the relationship between the miners’trade unions and the government over this issue.However,although it was the subject of numerous investigations,the issue of workplace safety remained largely unresolved and was not pursued in more detail until the post-war years.