Hello
Airdrie and Coatbridge were surrounded by mines, and as most of the workers lived in tied housing provided (at a rent) by their employers, it meant that anyone considered as causing trouble for the company could be put out of work, meaning the would also be evicted from their homes.
If you have Joseph or his family in the 1861, 1851 and 1841 census, they might be recorded living at the colliery / mine as a lot of housing was right on the mines doorstep. Looking at the old maps on the National Library of Scotland site at
www.nls.uk/maps can help locate the mines that existed around the places folk were living.
The newspapers of the time might also report on any industrial unrest at particular places. I have used the British Newspaper Archive in the past for access to the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser and other Lanarkshire papers, and depending on where you are, your local library might have access. It's probably unlikely that any record of the blacklisting of individual miners would exist now.
In his book "The Mineworkers" Robert Duncan discusses a strike in 1842 that saw 12,000 miners in the Monklands area stop work (Coatbridge was in the parish of Old Monkland and Airdrie in the parish of New Monkland), with the local Sheriff declaring a state of emergency with police summoned from Glasgow.
The book reports that strikes were a feature of the Lanarkshire coalfields and it's a really good read if you are interested in the history of mining across Scotland.
Best wishes
Brian
