coal became cheaper to import from Australia,
You sure about that Ted?
p.s. A good read - Did "the reforms the government adopted in the 1980s succeeded in improving the labour market...
"Yep, in the 80's it was Australia, these days there's a fair bit from Argentina. The UK still produces coal, but there's only 6000 miners left at the most competitive mines, compare that to 1.2 million at its peak. The Decline of Coal
My cousins during the strike would go around to an aunt as she had gas, so had heating when the electricity went off due to the lack of coal for the power stations. They could only afford tea and toast for breakfast and lunch, and tea and toast with marmite for dinner. The family was split because an uncle went back to work first. Even now, they won't visit.
Interesting article you put forward suggesting improved productivity. Even if that happened, it wasn't enough to compete with other countries, with more investment in equipment. As for work practices, the proof is in the pudding, one look at the Liverpool docks today, says things could be done better. Effectively, dockers around the world have been impacted by containerisation.
The world changed and the UK (and a lot of other countries) got caught short.