Labour leaders during the General Strike: (left to right), Arthur Henderson, Ramsay MacDonald (leader of the opposition) and Mr J. H. Thomas. In support of a strike by coal miners over the issue of threatened wage cuts, the Trades Union Congress called a General Strike in early May 1926. The strike only involved certain key industrial sectors (docks, electricity, gas, railways) but, in the face of well-organised government emergency measures and lack of real public support, it collapsed after nine days.