Page "Clement Attlee" Paragraph 56

In spite of the hopes of many on the left, nationalisation failed to provide workers with a greater say in the running of the industries in which they worked.

It did, however, bring about significant material gains for workers in the form of higher wages, reduced working hours, and improvements in working conditions, especially in regards to safety.

As historian Eric Shaw noted of the years following nationalisation, the electricity and gas supply companies became “ impressive models of public enterprise ” in terms of efficiency, and the National Coal Board was not only profitable, but working conditions for miners had significantly improved as well.

Within a few years of nationalisation, a number of progressive measures had been carried out which did much to improve conditions in the mines, including better pay, a five-day workweek, a national safety scheme ( with proper standards at all the collieries ), a ban on boys under the age of 16 going underground, the introduction of training for newcomers before going down to the coalface, and the making of pithead baths into a standard facility.