Ian Lavery Ian Lavery Ian Lavery (born 6 January 1963) is a British Labour Party politician and former trade union leader from Northumberland who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wansbeck since the 2010 general election. Born and raised in Ashington, Lavery began work in the construction industry after leaving school before becoming a mining apprentice. Noted for being the sole apprentice to refuse to work during the miners' strike of 1984-1985, he gradually rose up the ranks of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and was chosen to succeed Arthur Scargill as NUM President in 2002. Once elected to
History of trade unions in the United Kingdom long avoided. More than 6,000 printing workers went on strike in 1986 in the "Wapping dispute", for what they and their union saw as "unacceptable" terms of employment for jobs at "The Sun" newspaper's new HQ in Wapping. They too lost. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) had long been one of the strongest labour unions. Its strikes had toppled the Heath government in the 1970s- the miners were successful in their 1984-1985 strike they were not. A strike was called by NUM leader Arthur Scargill in protest against proposed pit closures. The miners, however, were fighting not just for