Unions don’t call the shots any more – but we’d all be better off if they did | Larry Elliott

Britain is not going back to the 1970s'. Organised labour is far too cowed for that, and collective bargaining all but gone

For those versed in trade union folklore, the battle of Saltley Gate holds a special place. In 1972, workers from Birmingham factories downed tools to support striking miners, blockading a gasworks in the city where there was a huge stockpile of coking coal. Orchestrated by a young Arthur Scargill, the blockade successfully prevented lorries from collecting the coal.

The action was pivotal in winning the strike for the miners, so it comes as no surprise that today, on the 50th anniversary of Saltley Gate, the Midlands branch of the TUC is holding a celebratory event. Scargill will be one of the speakers.

Larry Elliott is the Guardian's economics editor