Background To The Picket
The Orgreave coking plant, where coal was turned into coke for use in steel production, was regarded by Arthur Scargill as crucial. Early in the strike, British Steel plants had been receiving "dispensations", picket-permitted movements of coal to prevent damage to their furnaces. However it was found that more than the permitted amount of coal had been delivered, so action was taken.
Two months went by before it dawned on Yorkshire, South Wales and Scotland that they had been outmanoeuvred by British Steel, and the leadership of the steelworkers' union, and that British Steel was moving far more coal than the dispensations agreed with NUM areas. Yet there was still time to stop all those giant steelworks, and if the steelworkers' union would not cooperate with the NUM to stop all deliveries of coal to the steelworks then the National Union of Seamen and rail unions Aslef and NUR had already demonstrated that they would stop all deliveries.If coal could be prevented from reaching there, the low stocks at British Steel plants such as Ravenscraig would be exhausted and the furnaces prevented from "ticking over", causing significant economic damage to the industry.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Orgreave
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