Following the Assembly debate, Harland & Wolff shop steward and Ulster Workers Council (UWC) central organiser Harry Murray told a group of journalists that a general strike would begin the following day in response.

[5] The date had been agreed by the UWC some time in advance as they wanted it to coincide with the vote, which they had expected to end in defeat for the hard-line unionist motion.

[7] By the end of day one, the port of Larne was sealed off, with a significant UDA and UVF presence helping to ensure that no ships were allowed to enter or leave the harbour.

[8] The strike began to impact upon agriculture as milk that had not been collected or processed had to be dumped whilst fresh food was similarly not transported to market.

[5] However a group of essential services were defined by the UWC, who permitted these to continue as normal, issuing a phone number for anyone involved in these professions.

[11] Workers were largely untouched in predominantly Catholic towns such as Strabane as the loyalist paramilitaries had no structure in place to launch an intimidation campaign but even in these locations work was severely disrupted as electricity supplies proved highly unreliable.

[13] The army was also engaged in the New Lodge are of north Belfast, breaking up riots between Catholic residents and their Protestant neighbours in Tiger's Bay.

[5] A statement was issued by the UWC indicating that they favoured escalating the strike, calling for an all-out stoppage to commence at midnight on Sunday 19 May.

[15] Nonetheless, a note of caution was sounded when the Executive was informed that the British Army would not be able to run the power stations alone and attempts were made to open negotiations between the UWC and the Northern Ireland Labour Party.

[5] Meanwhile, the United Ulster Unionist Council met and decided to publicly declare their support for the UWC, which in turn withdrew its earlier call for an all-out stoppage.

[16] The first meeting of the committee revealed some friction as Barr entered late and found Ian Paisley sitting at the head of the table.

The march was flanked by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army but a crowd of loyalists still managed to attack some of the marchers.

[21] In an attempt to bring the strike to an end the Executive agreed to postpone certain parts of the Sunningdale Agreement until 1977 and to reduce the size of the Council of Ireland.

[22] Another bomb exploded in a shop in the Shankill area of Belfast after the owner defied UWC orders to stay open no more than four hours; there were no injuries.

[5] Politically, Gerry Fitt called for the British Army to be deployed to the power stations and the oil refineries whilst Northern Ireland Question Time again focused on the strike.

Following the meeting a statement was issued affirming the earlier British government position that any group operating outside constitutional politics could not be negotiated with.

[12] The UDA and UVF members, travelling in minibuses, had wrecked three other pubs around Ballymena and attacked the owners for staying open during the strike.

[5] A Catholic civilian, Alfred Stilges (52), was found beaten to death in an empty house on Forthriver Road in the Glencairn area Belfast.

[12] The British Army launched a series of raids on loyalists areas around Belfast, taking more than thirty suspected activists into custody.

[5] The UWC declared its system of permits a success and argued that it was ensuring maintenance of the previously defined 'essential services', especially the supply of petrol.

In response to this development the UWC announced that it would no longer oversee the 'essential services' and declared that the army could now look after even the most basic of provisions.

[5] In his final speech in the Executive meeting room Faulkner said "after five months of being able to work together, Catholic and Protestant, I hope that one thing can remain – that we do not attack each other on a sectarian basis ever again".

Ian Paisley addressed a rally in Rathcoole at which he claimed a personal victory before a crowd of 5,000 people whilst Harry Murray returned to the anonymity of his work at the shipyard.

[33] Merlyn Rees had interpreted the strike, in which avowed loyalists had openly defied the British government, as an outbreak of Ulster nationalism.

A self-elected provisional government of Protestant power workers, well-armed private armies and extreme politicians organized a strike which almost broke up the fabric of civilized life in Ulster.

[36]For a time the UDA looked to this spirit of Ulster nationalism for its own policy, with Glenn Barr, Andy Tyrie, Tommy Lyttle and Harry Chicken spearheading an initiative in this direction which culminated in the production of the 1979 New Ulster Political Research Group document Beyond the Religious Divide, which drew up a blueprint for a negotiated independence for Northern Ireland, as well as a framework constitution for the new state.

[39] For Harold Wilson the success of the UWC strike convinced him that it was no longer worthwhile to attempt to impose a settlement on Northern Ireland from Westminster.

Based on the principle of "rolling devolution" it elected a body of politicians and left it up to them to decide the future structure of devolved institutions.

With confused aims and a lack of widespread support this strike collapsed and brought about a permanent rift in the relationship between the Democratic Unionist Party and the UDA.