Yorkshire Area lowers members subs !
The Area Officials and NUM Council of the Yorkshire Area are to be heartily congratulated for
their decision to lower the full membership fees.
Scargill Wars….the saga continues
Discussion about rRecent reports suggesting Arthur Scargill had ‘won’ £12000 damages against the NUM for loss of expenses
Research into the events at Orgreave
David Conn, a journalist for the Guardian newspaper, is researching the events at Orgreave during the miners strike.
Durham Mining Museum
News about the Durham Mining Museum relocation and opening times
Carbon Capture, Hatfield Main and Clean Coal Technologies
Dave Douglass on the future of carbon capture
Read 'The Miners' Heritage:
A History of the Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes by George L Atkinson MBE.
Tragic Events At Gleision Pit, South Wales
Shock and sadness after flood takes the lives of four miners.
This year's Big Meeting - Links from around the web
Links from various sites, including YouTube, concerning this year's Big Meeting.
Reports from the 2011 Big Meeting
Reports from and links to The Sunderland Echo concerning this year's Big Meeting, including
the new Washington Glebe Lodge banner and a visit from Chilean miner,
Carlos Bugueno.
Follonsby Miners Lodge Banner, Heritage and
Community Association
The Unveiling of the Wardley Miners Banner of 1938
Sat 18 June 2011
New Jobs In Mining.
New Life in Australia
Australian Coal Mining interviews to take place in July.
The Miners' Hymns
Watch an exclusive trailer for Bill Morrison's The Miners' Hymns
TAX, PENSIONS AND BENEFIT CHANGES FOR 2011-12
This is mainly copied from the CSPA newsletter with some “explanatory” notes from Julian Atkinson
Up to 70 feared dead in Colombian mine blast
Sixteen killed in what could be one of country's worst mining accidents
Striking Mexican Copper miners
Mexican copper miners embattled in a three year dispute over health and safety issues
Dave Douglass talks about 'Ghost Dancers'
Dave talks about the final part of his trilogy 'Stardust and Coaldust'
Obituary: Peter Heathfield, March 2 1929 - May 4 2010.
David Douglass celebrates his life
Announcement of death of former General Secretary of the NUM .
Peter Heathfield dies after battle with illness
Victor Lindsay
It is with sadness that we report the death of our comrade.
Vic was a long time Delegate of the Rossington Branch and a great friend and comrade of the Hatfield miners
May Day 2010
Report and video from May Day 2010 social event.
Feds Cite Operator Alpha for Mine Inundation
Feds cite operator Alpha for inundation that trapped 7 miners for nearly 24 hours
MALTBY NUM BRANCH, YORKSHIRE AREA
25th ANNIVERSARY of the MINERS STRIKE
A story of coal and conflict -
Vicki Smith
From the Morning Star December 28th 2009
Pat Bennet, Hatfield Main NUM Union stalwart and Doncaster coalfield Character
Ripped Off Miners is a site that aims tohave miners' claims reviewed.
NUM National Executive Committee Elections – Yorkshire Area Aug 2009
Separating the pillock from the politics and the principles.
Worker-intellectual who fell prey to the right
David Douglass looks back at the life of Lawrence Daly: October 20 1924-May 23 2009
Launch of Dave's new book 'The Wheels Still in Spin'
Dave Douglass will be visiting his 'home' turf to mark the launch of the second part of his trilogy
Back to the Miner's Advice Home Page
News Items
Yorkshire Area lowers members subs !
The Area Officials and NUM Council of the Yorkshire Area are to be heartily congratulated for
their decision to lower the full membership fees. Needless to say at times of squeezed budgets all round and ever increasing demands on the union services with a falling membership this is a bold and remarkable decision. It is one we certainly endorse and welcome. The Yorkshire Area at its Jan 16th meeting endorsed the proposal.
The Area has been sticking tight to its policy of not increasing subs and had held the rate at £4.54 per month for the last six years come what may. Now following a report given to the meeting by the Area Secretary the council delegates representing the three Yorkshire Area branches agreed a reduction was both sustainable and affordable.
This has been made possible by the recent reallocation of Yorkshire Area property, which had been standing unused though still a drag on Area finances, all property has now been renovated and rented out. Also from the reduction of staff as Arthur Scargill is no longer in the employment of the NUM Yorkshire Area Trust Fund.
The report adds “Over the last three years there has been a great deal of expenditure on legal costs to resolve internal disputes, costs that have prevented the savings made from being passed on to you, the members, earlier.
These costs will come to an end over the coming months as cases are settled by the courts”
The Area Council accepted the recommendation to lower the full member contribution rate to £4 per week.
We can only say on behalf of the full NUM members, ‘job well done’.
Scargill Wars….the saga continues
Recent reports suggest Arthur Scargill had ‘won’ £12000 damages against the NUM for loss of expenses.
The report appears to have been sent in to Radio journalists by someone with a partisan view point though we couldn’t comment on who. The judge apparently commented on the hard work Arthur had done for the NUM Trust fund and the union, especially it seems his work on VWF. Nobody in this union can doubt Arthur’s contribution to it or his firm resolve during the run up to the great strike and shortly afterwards, but by 1988 Arthur’s finest moments were gone, and in our view he should have left at that stage and the union would have been that much stronger and more unified than the willful internal wars which followed. Certainly had he left at that stage he would have been at his peak of popularity and retained all his friends and comrades who dearly loved and respected him. Sadly it was downhill from there as Arthur moved heaven and hell to retain position and influence in the union
The legend that Arthur had been a champion of the VWF came as a surprise to many in the union as Arthur was a long way behind the ‘8’ ball on VWF which was spearheaded by the Northern Area of the NUM markedly Durham. Arthur was fearful a rash of cases could cost the union lots of money and was far from confident of their success. At the same time the absurd decision had been made to close down the NUM’s own legal dept, at a time when a bonanza of legal claims would be unleashed by solicitors and every hick legal firm in the country. The only cases being pursued in Yorkshire at that time, was in Doncaster, one at the Mining Communities Advice Centre at Stainforth, and the other through Dave Murdock’s COSA office on Chequer Road. The union was operating an arm length operation through Doncaster Council as The Compensation Recovery Scheme from Murdock’s office and staff from this centre addressed the official education school at Scarborough to process the claims and give advice. It was only later when the amounts of money leaking away from the union was realized, that Arthur moved quickly to close the gap and take control of the claims. It was also realized that the more claims taken up and Limited memberships being signed on increased the voting power of the branches which were running them. In the process Murdock was expelled from the Union for running ‘a private operation’ while Dave Douglass was brought before the NEC and ordered to close down the Advice Centre. ‘official’ retired members branches were then created and all Limited Memberships transferred to The Area Office. This allowed Arthur subsequently to claim all these limited members votes as a block vote of ‘The Area Office Branch’ cast at his discretion and capable of outvoting any working branch in Yorkshire and holding the deciding vote on almost any issue.
The judge also admonished the NUM for failing to give enough credit to Arthur for his suggestion of recovering £8million from Raleys for their handling of the union’s compensation cases, particularly VWF and COPD. The problem was it wasn’t actually recovered because the legal advice was it couldn’t be done and would waste possibly millions in the attempt. The judge didn’t comment on Arthur’s other legal advice, that the Yorkshire Area shouldn’t act to secure compensation on miners knee conditions. This advice was acted on leaving Durham and Scotland and few other areas to carry the huge costs of the vitally important legal case on behalf of the members. At this moment that whole case which tens of thousands of our members are keenly interested in hangs in the balance of a pending appeal.
Actually members may wonder what is going on in this seeming ‘never ending story’ of bitter conflict between the NUM and former national president Arthur Scargill. The quickest way to understand the background is to actually read David Douglass’s book Ghost Dancers which takes the history of the NUM over the last generation up to the relevant period. Basically, it comes down to one fact. At 65 years old Arthur should have retired from the union that is what the rule book stated should happen. Unfortunately Arthur drafted a new rule book, which allowed him to become ‘Honorary President’ until he reached age 75. The rule changes were bitterly fought, and the voting procedures were highly questionable involving use of dead member’s votes, widow’s votes and various phantom branches of the union such as The Area Office Branch and also an amazing National Office Branch which no-one had ever heard of before or since. We were assured at the time the position was purely honorary that this was just a title though officials at the time asked why Arthur Scargill needed a title? Later it emerged Arthur would receive consultation fees from at least two areas including Yorkshire. The Honorary position in fact involved him staying in position in the national office, with staff and representing the union in numerous activities, and intervening in the work and policy of the union. What the total expenses paid to Arthur were, and for what, was an ongoing source of discussion and annoyance.
While ever national and area officials were in Arthur’s political and union faction camp, there was little real transparency as they co-coordinated their roles with his. However with the election of a new leadership came a switch in the balance of power (it seems crazy talking of ‘power’ in a union with something like 2000 members nationally in an industry of perhaps 3500) and Chris Kitchen, the new General Secretary and Yorkshire Area Secretary, along with Chris Skidmore the Area President, found themselves somewhat in a position of ‘duel power’ with more than their hands on the wheel. They had also found increasingly bad blood in the office and the union as some staff members seen themselves answerable to Arthur ‘upstairs’ instead of their actual employers ‘downstairs’. Control of finance and accountability of expenditure in the ever declining union became a primary goal of Mr. Kitchen, as he set off to discover who was paid what, and for what? The whole issue was complicated by a new leadership at Maltby branch who had numerous complaints about the way in which the union operated and various rules (all of them which had been brought in during Arthur’s reign) they deemed unfair and discriminatory. Arthur then aligned himself with the various causes of the Maltby Branch as they did his, while Ken Capstick the Editor of the Miner and Press Officer also fought the corner of Arthur against the incumbent union leadership at National and Area level.
It has not made for unity of any sort, and the union has found itself convulsed in court cases and Industrial Tribunals with the Union Certification Officer and Industrial Court. Meantime the actual issues on the ground at the pits and in the branches failed to get the full attention of the union and its officials as they slogged it out. ‘Control’ of the union, its policy, its finances and democracy are the questions at the heart of this whole affair.
So we come to the latest round of court action. The Union had taken steps to control what it seen as unwarranted expenditures, and expenses paid to Mr. Scargill which they considered to be illegitimate. Arthur then sues the Union for loss of these expenses.
So who won what? Scargill has won £12,000 towards a car... he was seeking £15,000 on the Officials car agreement.
He has been told that he was not entitled to the payment of his 2 land lines at Treelands (his house at Barnsley) or his mobile phone which he was claiming had cost him £5,000 since they were stopped in April 2010. No one knew that he got over £14,000 in 2005 towards a car, a payment that the Judge agreed was £5,000 more than he was entitled to but that was a clerical mistake it seems.
The fuel bills (full amount of his gas bill) which last year was over £4,000, the cost of his security system and payment of his accountants fees which were paid by the Yorkshire Area Trust and suspended in April 2010 had been dropped from this case and Arthur has put in a counter claim against the National Union for them which will be part of the Barbican case. The Barbican is the luxury flat in London, which the union has been paying for Arthur to use as a ‘rest and recreation’ apartment and Arthur claims is his residence and as a former official he is entitled to it.
Chris Kitchen the NUM General Secretary commented on the decision
‘…that if Arthur had any morals he should consider paying back the money he has had for his phone bills over the last 8 years that he was not entitled to
and that if Arthur had put as much effort into protecting the members and the industry that he has put into looking after himself things might be a lot different to what they are…’
All eyes will be on the Barbican case which is forthcoming and should really draw a line under the whole affair, we hope. None of this leaves a very nice taste in the mouth, as good comrades and loyal members of the union have taken up sides, mainly out of respect for Arthur’s past proud role rather than the facts of the current situation of which they tend not to understand. There is also an assumption that anything and anybody which stands in opposition to Arthur Scargill is defacto in the right wing, this is not and has not been the case since the end of the 80s. All of the forces involved in this battle are of the left. The questions here are those of rank and file control and financial transparency. It would be a happy day indeed if this union could go back to the dream of our founders that NO Staff Member or Elected Official is paid more than the average wage of the miners they represent NO MATTER WHO they are are.
Research into the events at Orgreave
David Conn, a journalist for the Guardian newspaper, is researching the events at Orgreave during the miners strike. He is looking to talk to the miners who were prosecuted for riot, in a prosecution which then collapsed, and they were all acquitted. The miners then sued and won a settlement from the South Yorkshire Police in 1991. He is also contacting the lawyers who represented the men for full legal details of the cases.
Some of the miners prosecuted and acquitted of all charges were:
Bernard Jackson
Arthur Critchlow
David Moore
George Foulds
Ernest Barber
Kevin Marshall
George Forster
James O'Brien
Eric Newbiggin
David Bell
If any of these men, or anybody with detailed knowledge of Orgreave and what happened afterwards, can contact David Conn, he is very keen to talk to them. His email address is: david.conn@guardian.co.uk
From Roy Lambeth and the committee of The Durham Mining Museum
The Durham Mining Museum has now relocated to Spennymoor Town Hall.
The museum is normally open Monday to Friday 12 noon to 4pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm
We re-open after the Christmas break on Tuesday 3rd January and will be closed for essential Town Hall maintenance from Febuary 9th to February 29th.
Carbon Capture, Hatfield Main and Clean Coal Technologies
David Douglass
Devastating news came last week with an article in the Spectator, announcing the plug was being pulled on Carbon Capture in Britain. Readers will know of course that CCS is a process linked to other clean coal technologies, which takes CO2 out of the coal burning process, captures it and stores it below ground in empty oil and gas wells. The gas and oil having been sealed in rock for hundreds of millions of years and survived every convulsion the earth had thrown up, it would be highly if highly unlikely to ever escape. We can seal the drill hole harder than the original strata so the whole chamber is secured. Given the massive consumption of coal in the world, and the fears about ‘global warming’ being caused by coal consumption and the production of CO2 a clean technology which would stop or greatly reduce this process has been urgently sought.
Let’s be quite clear, we are not all that convinced by the panic about “climate change” which is as natural as the earth turning and has always occurred since the earth was
born. Despite the hippy clamour to ‘stop climate change’ you can’t stop climate change, any more than you can stop time, or evolution, it is hard wired into the planet and every other planet and star. Climate change created us, and the mammals, millions of species have died out and developed on the back of climate change, land mass has bonded and broke up, continents disappeared and others developed, From a single lump of land floating in an endless ocean, with interiors like the moon and climates like Mars, to breaking in two and then five, and where we are now. The land masses are currently moving back toward each other again, and will at some point millions of years from now become one vast continent again. From a gigantic frozen snowball to volcanic ridden hell, the planet’s climate changes constantly and long long before we ever got here. The polar caps have not always been there, they come and go, they are melting now because the last ice age is over, the planet is warming, in part because our current trajectory is taking us closer to the sun. Having said that, it is clear Human dominance of the planet has added to the warming process by our development and science and industry, but this is as ‘natural’ as any other phase of the earth’s history. It is as natural as when the dinosaurs dominated the earth, or the creatures which predated them. The earth has no particular preference for which species if any occupies its surface.
What is scary for many is not that ‘the planet is dieing’ it isn’t of course, the earth will survive whatever puny effects we have on its ecology and climate, as it has done far more devastating effects of perfectly natural climatic convulsions millions of years before we got her. What is scary is that the conditions of life which sustain US, humanity may become impossible and WE may be wiped out or our life styles and cultures severely curtailed. So efforts should be made to minimize the harmful effects of our dominance on the planet. This leads us to a discussion of what those harmful activities are. The green lobby universally hates coal mining, and by extension often hates coal miners too. Since many of them are middle and upper class folk from highly privileged social backgrounds, often right wing son’s daughters and grandchildren of Thatcher and the Tories, there is no love lost between us in the first place. As coal miners with an understanding of geology and gasses, we are not easily convinced that CO2 and our production of it could possibly have caused the massive impact which it is blamed for.CO2 is a tiny component of the earth’s atmosphere. True, human presence and carbon industries especially coal have greatly increased its proportion over the last century, but it remains a very small player in the field in our view, but let’s accept the arguments despite our cynicism.
Is coal burning the major source of the global warming gasses? As far as we can see Methane is a far worse green house gas than CO2, it is one of the worse, if not THE
WORSE source of greenhouse impacts. Miners do not produce this on any scale but mass and widespread global meat production does. Farming of mass herds of cattle, pigs and sheep etc to supply meat for the meat industry is at least on a par with coal burning for the damage it does. How come? Billions of animals produce billions of cubic feet of methane from their backsides, as does multi million tones of annually produced manure and silage. Secondly and perhaps most importantly is the ever ongoing destruction of the earth’s forests, mostly to make way for the animals, and to make land to farm them. The destruction of the rain forests and areas of dense vegetation in ancient woods and tundra
is producing a spiral of desertification and killing the lungs of the planet, taking away the ability of the earth to change the CO2 into oxygen and maintain a balance of breathable air. The single most important factor in the whole ‘global warming’ process is this feature, destruction of forests, desertification, animal meat production. We have yet to see anything like the clamor directed at this as is directed at coal mining. Odd when you consider that replanting the woodlands and stopping the ongoing destruction could be achieved in a very brief period if the will was there.
Next is transport, private cars, planes, not simply their emissions but also the road building devastation which accompanies them, these too eat up the oxygen producing vegetation countryside and woodlands. Could this be addressed by a return to public transport, mass transit rail systems fueled on clean power? Again it requires only the will.
Finally yes, coal, not so much coal production but the burning of coal unfettered up the chimneys of mass polluting coal power stations. We as miners unions have fought against this waste of our labour and fuel for a century. Clean coal power is possible, the development of these systems focus at present on the CCS plants. We were therefore devastated by the news in the Spectator that CCS research and development HAS ENDED in Britain. Where does that leave our Hatfield Plant? This website has long proclaimed and welcomes the development of the hydrogenisation scheme linked to Hatfield Colliery. The old tip has been cleared in anticipation of its construction which we were told would be on stream by 2014.
Suspiciously things have gone very quiet on that front lately following the failure (Again) of R Budges, last green power,powerfuel company the mine and the power plant went into administration because the company couldn’t raise the match funding to meet that of the grant secured from Europe. So where are we now, given that The Spectator says its all over?
We have banged on lots of MP’s doors and the Energy Minister’s door, but no-one can be found to tell us. Readers ought to raise this question everywhere, “What is happening to the Hatfield Mains Clean Coal Power Station?” We are all the more suspicious because we see the commissioning of a new GAS powered station at Thorpe Marsh, why if the Hatfield Scheme is up and running would we need that too ?
We have discovered that the Hatfield power project is being run by 2co energy who have submitted a bid to Europe for funding whereby the captured co2 from the plant will be transported to the north sea for an enhanced oil recovery project whereby its put into mature oil wells to maximize oil production .I’m grateful to Mark Metcalf for this information. This marks a change in the earlier projection which was utility of disused empty oil wells. Does it make the project more problematic and uncertain, it seems too. Any information from the local MP The Leader Of The Labour Party, Ed Milliband would be most welcome but so far we have heard nowt from him on this vital scheme. Let’s be clear here, this scheme and its success are VITAL for the whole of coal production and coal consumption world wide. We need this plant to work; we need it exporting enmass to China and India and the USA to stop the CO2 pollution many think is threatening human life on the planet. Whether that is true is not, and it can’t help, we need to urgently develop clean coal systems. The alternative to these will be vastly more dangerous nuclear power and environmentally wrecking wind turbine estates and pylons covering every square mile of countryside, mountains and seascapes.
The Company has applied under a fund for new entrants and bids close on Feb. 9th next year, the funds won't in themselves be sufficient to get the project off the ground so other funding streams are required. Just where these are likely to come from given this government and other recent government hostility to British mining is unclear. It is certainly not as optimistic as we had envisaged recently. Readers ought to deluge the Energy Minister with letters demanding the funding is forthcoming and clean coal power given the chance of cleaning up our act.
Meantime Hatfield Main mine is now being run by the bank, although Hargreaves is actually doing the day to day operations. We understand the mine is doing well, the NUM has a much better relationship with the management than has existed for some time and we welcome this. We are far short of the levels of union membership at this pit which we need to make real demands on the company with regard to the pits long term futures and operations and wages. We urge all the Hatfield Miners reading this piece to urgently get themselves in the union or get their marra’s to join.
Hatfield has the hopes of the entire Yorkshire coalfield, its reserves now extend to the entire Thorne take potentially, and Thorne was mapped out to extract 150 million tones in its first FIVE year plan of operations. There is High Hazel as well as Barnsley at Thorne, and High Hazel is almost certain to exist at former Markham and Askern reserves totally untouched in those pits mining history. Hazel is the premium coal of this region in its calorific values, low ash and chlorine contents.
We hope anyone with more detailed knowledge on any of the above to write into the site.
Read 'The Miners' Heritage:
A History of the Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes by George L Atkinson MBE.
Within the boundaries of the former Durham coalfield there is now little physical
evidence that this was once the largest production district in what was then the world's
biggest national coal industry. The visitor today would have difficulty in finding a
colliery headgear, or in seeing one of the pitheaps which for so many generations were a
feature of the landscape.
Today, the few relics of the industry are ruins, memorials, or museum pieces. But in
contrast with these pallid witnesses of a great past, there is a thriving and vibrant heritage
which the coal miners of Durham built up over the last century, and which gives living
testimony to their social concern.
This heritage is the Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association (DAMHA), a
registered housing association, and one of the Britain's largest almshouse charities.
Available for download in pdf format from The Durham Aged Mineworkers Homes Assciation web site:
http://www.durhamhomes.org.uk/history-heritage.htm
Tragic Events At Gleision Pit, South Wales
Nowhere is the legacy left the coalfield areas by Thatcher more tragically illustrated that the woeful Gleision pit inundation. Here we have proud men, desperate to earn their living and support their families in the only way we know how, opening up what is basically an abandoned mine. Working totally conventional methods with hand held boring machines, shot blasting and hand filling coal they have sought for surviving pillars of coal.
While the height 75cm isn’t anything new to many of us from the older coalfields the lack of any sort of investment other than sweat and graft and wooden timbers and the knifes edged of profit and loss make volatile mixtures. The temptation to work pillars of coal left in to support roofs and hold back water is something which visited us in the worse days of private mining in the early 1840’s. These pillars hold back hundreds, sometimes thousands of millions of gallons of water from worked out mines in the whole region, then the thinner the pillar gets the more certain an inundation. This much is speculation, the disaster enquiry will confirm or contradict this but I think its odd’s on to have been the cause. The mine was mining Anthracite
the worlds most profitable coal seam, for its super calorific value and low ash content. It can fetch double or more the price of normal coal, and the men at this pit were clearly supplying a strong local market, which earned them a good living.
Something like 20 on the these little drifts and ‘day holes’ exist round the country,some of which are illustrated on this site. Often worked by families of miners or friends they run on a shoe string, often non union, the mines inspectorate periodic visits can never replace a strong miners union on site . The whip hand here is not however non unionism, but lack of a modern coal industry or any industry in which to work. Safety is expensive, every complaint can drive the pit into closure so many keep stum when they know damn well the clock is ticking. What contracts the men were working under is unclear, they may well have been ‘self employed’ or operating some ‘share scheme’ based solely on output. That a disaster fund to bring the victims families some income following the deaths suggests these men were vulnerable to just such an eventuality as this.
Early reports from the mine, that heavy rain had caused the inundation never rang true; even the basic pump system of this mine could cope with any amount of rain water. Although we don’t know for certain, as pitmen we know this has got to be mine water which has broken through dams and probably weakened damns. Chris Kitchen the NUM General Secretary has asked the question whether lessons learned and new regulations introduced following the Lofthouse inundation were applied here. Part of these regulations was that plans of standing water, damns and support pillars had to be highlighted and observed in colliery operating plans submitted to the HMI. The other part of the regulation was that extended boring in advance of the operating face to test geology in front for old workings and standing water had to be carried out. In a mine of seven underground workers using hand held boring machines, was such a proscription considered practical, or was the men’s faith placed in colliery plans solely to predict were mine water and old workings were ?
The enquiry will doubtless tell us this.
We none of us wanted to admit it, but we more or less knew there was no hope for these men almost from the beginning; the silence told us that. Underground pipe work runs for hundreds of miles on all levels. The international mining distress call signal that survivors remain is signed by banging on the pipes, the noise and vibrations run throughout the workings. In this case there was no banging.
We are proud Wayne Thomas the General Secretary of the NUM in Wales was at the pit head from the beginning. It is believed we had one member at the mine, a mate of Wayne’s and a veteran of the old Tower Colliery. Tower was a workers buyout, it was run by the union at the pit, and worked decades without a single accident or death. But Tower had been a political victory, with a guaranteed market for its specialist coal won at the point of nation wide labour movement lobbying and community opinion. The security of Tower’s market (and of course their hard work and skill) ensured room for investment, and safety. At Gleision seven or eight men one of whom was the owner struggled in appalling conditions to win two or three hundred tonnes a week all off the shovel to local coal dealers.
Of course coal mining is a dangerous job. Under the old NCB and with a strong union with the back up of a powerful labour movement forcing legislative backup the Coal Board set a high safety standard. Safety got steadily stronger over its entire life (which doesn’t mean it was ‘safe’ accidents and tragedies still happened). Privatization in 1993 and repeal of many mine safety laws still left in place a strongly policed safety culture enforced by the NUM and its independent rights of safety and inspection. As the private companies have abandoned more and more mines, cut back on the dwindling number of miners, so the pool of mines and work has got smaller and miners more and more desperate. The announcement of a couple of hundred jobs at the re-opened Hatfield Colliery, seen thousands and thousands of applications from unemployed miners across the country, the same thing had happened with the opening of Adventure mine in South Wales. For others even the offer of work in dangerous day holes and small drifts like this is a temptation. Its pit work, work we have been bred to, its security, odd though that seems now, and it’s a decent living , mining never has been just a job though, and that element cannot be ignored. Mining is a challenge, a hard physical test of sinew and mental strength and comradeship which is rather habit forming although I don’t expect non miners to understand that.
Our hearts go out to the families of these poor working men, too proud to sit on the dole, too strong in their skill to give up.
The answer of course is not to walk away from the six or seven large commercial mines we have left, even private ownership isn’t characterized by this accident and method of work, instead we need the reopening of a modern British coal industry, secure in investments and markets. That probably can only be done by the nationalization of the energy industry, with the maximum achievable standards of workers and consumers and community control. Rising gas prices, fuel poverty, the threat posed by nuclear expansion the destruction of land and seascapes by Wind turbines and the endless march of pylons from the sea through the countryside, may soon pose the question of clean coal again. We have to insist that the NUM and the working class drive this agenda and set the conditions in which it will operate. This tragedy far from being another strap to beat the mining industry with ought to signal a real campaign to develop the coal industry to the highest achievable safety standards available using the cleanest possible technology.
See photos and history of Gleision here in the Mining 2000 section
This year's Big Meeting from around the web
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36y6K1D9IsY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPY_NuGnPt0&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C4MsQdzSEw&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDiMMq7QbbE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc0oCthbNXk&feature=related – Gresford at platform
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpX090nmVqM – It says “Part 2” but there is NO Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT5KQw1Ab0U&feature=related – Bearpark and Esh Colliery Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GubShvr3Z4o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhnt2bNB-mk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhnt2bNB-mk&feature=related – mainly still photographs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aotFnHIq6x4 – Eppleton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER2Re-4ytN4 – even more Eppleton (leaving the village)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaI3JV0xWI8&feature=related – Backworth Colliery Band play Gresford at Eppleton in memory of the 1951 disaster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTSaRD7slrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hxOVWNswFU – great for Scottish pipes and drums (and, at end, some good jazz)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVWjb7JvwAY – Tursdale
Not forgetting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0fmUx4gJc&feature=related – the relaunch of the 1938 Follonsby banner
Thanks to Graeme Atkinson
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/durham_miners_gala_welcomes_rescued_chilean_1_3566284
Durham Miners Gala welcomes rescued Chilean
A wave to the balcony of the County Hotel as the new replica Washington Glebe Lodge banner is paraded at the Big Meeting. It is the first time the Glebe banner has been at the Gala since the centenary year in 1983.
Published on Monday 11 July 2011 11:06
THE new Washington Glebe Lodge banner was paraded before civic dignitaries at this year’s Big Meeting.
Thousands packed into Durham for the annual Miner’s Gala on Saturday.
Special guests at the event included one of the rescued Chilean miners.
Carlos Bugueno smiled and cheered from the County Hotel balcony as he watched the parade.
Originally two of the 33 miners who were trapped underground for more than two months last year were expected to attend, but Carlos Barrios Contreras could not make it because his passport had expired.
Grandmother-of-six Shirley Smyth, 66, of Chester-le-Street, said: “It’s incredible to think what they went through during those months being stuck underground.
“I watched them when they were being pulled out. I think those images will stay with me for a long time.”
Gala organiser Dave Hopper, Durham Miners’ Association general secretary, said: “We welcome Carlos to Durham and it’s a big coup for us to have him here.”
http://www.sunderlandecho.com:80/community/marching_in_unity_at_the_big_meeting_durham_miners_gala_1_3567989
Marching in unity at the Big Meeting – Durham Miners’ Gala
Published on Tuesday 12 July 2011 07:17
THE sound of brass bands, laughter and banter echoed through the streets as the Durham Big Meeting got into full swing on Saturday.
An estimated 70,000 people packed the city, with families flocking from across the country to see the colourful parade of banners and listen to the array of brass bands that paraded through the city.
But while many were there to enjoy themselves, there was a serious undertone to the event, with many unions using it to send out their stark message over Government cuts, redundancies, pensions and education.
Raymond McDermott, of Chester-le-Street, was parading with the health branch of the northern region of Unison.
The 65-year-old, who attends the Gala every year, said that the day had shown that regionally the unions are sticking together.
“With the fight following all the job cuts and everything this shows that we are all here to support each other and that people won’t stand to be pushed around,” he said.
“At the same time it’s great to see so many families here enjoying themselves.
“The atmosphere is fantastic – it always is – and the brass bands are amazing.”
Also among those marching was Dean Smith, who has attended the Big Meeting for the last 20 years and was carrying the Seaham Lodge banner.
It was a particularly poignant day for the 44-year-old, whose father-in-law, ex-miner and former Durham County Council leader Albert Nugent, died last year.
He said: “I will be thinking of my father-in-law today as I carry this banner.
“He worked down the pits and was part of the miners’ strikes, as was my dad and brother. It has been a great day and there are a lot of people here.”
Paul Young, 51, was carrying the New Herrington Lodge banner. He said: “The build-up has been fantastic and there’s a great atmosphere. It’s a really good day.”
Among the parade were seven new banners, including ones from Boldon, Washington Glebe and New Durham.
Tom Bainbridge was walking with the Boldon Lodge banner, which was later blessed at a special service.
He said: “It’s great to see the new banner here and it’s one of the few that has actually got miners on it.
“It’s good to see so many people here and although it’s been a bit slow coming in because of the amount of banners, we’ve had a good day.
“The Gala is really important because it’s our heritage.”
Tom Huntington, 50, joined the parade as he helped to carry the Shotton Lodge banner for the eighth year.
He said: “It’s a great day because I bring my family along, the kids and the grandchildren.
“The Gala is an important part of the heritage and culture of the mining community and it’s important we carry the tradition on.
“Mining is in my blood because all my family were miners.”
Neil Webster, 36, was with the Ryhope Lodge banner.
He added: “Generations and generations of people have been doing this and it’s important that we respect everything they did, especially when you think about all those men who lost their lives down the pits.”
Scott Thompson, 38, of Great Lumley, took his family along to Saturday’s meet.
He said: “I think it’s important that the kids get a chance to see an event like this.
“They have been asking questions about the miners and what it was like when people used to work down the pits.
“There is always a unique atmosphere here and I don’t think this type of event could be held anywhere except for Durham.”
Follonsby Miners Lodge Banner, Heritage and
Community Association
The Unveiling of the Wardley Miners Banner of 1938
Saturday 18th June 2011
The unveiling of the new banner went ahead on Saturday, attended by the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Gateshead, Councillor Malcolm Brain and Ms Susan Makin, followed by entertainment from the Felling Band and Johnny Handle Tony Cororan and Benny Graham.
A review of the event can be found here: A truly memorable day
A video has been uploaded to YouTube, which includes a short piece with Dave Douglass talking about the history of the banner: Relaunch of Follonsby Miners Banner, Durham Miners Gala, July 2011
New Jobs In Mining.
New Life in Australia
Australian Coal Mining interviews to take place in July.
We are currently working on behalf of a major Australian Mining company who have an urgent requirement for candidates with Underground Coal Mining experience.
The Company is a market leader in underground coal mining services in the world’s largest resource of high quality coking coal, Queensland’s Bowen Basin. The Company always looking for experienced coal miners for 14 live sites on the East Coast of Australia. They offer successful applicants a long term role which makes a rare breed in the competitive world of coal mining.
Very Competitive packages are on offer for experienced Underground Miners with a minimum of 3 years experience.
If you are interested please forward a relevant CV to Matthew.Steptoe@randstadcpe.com
Minimum of 3 years experience in Underground Mining
Flexibility to relocate
Willing to work on a rotational basis
All candidates must have been active within an underground coal mine within the past 7 years, they will also have to fit all visa restrictions.
Watch an exclusive trailer for Bill Morrison's The Miners' Hymns
US film-maker Bill Morrison's collaboration with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson mixes new and archive footage to examine the culture and history of mining around Durham. The film premieres at the Tribeca film festival in April. The soundtrack will be released on 23 May, and the BFI DVD on 20 June.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/mar/31/miners-hymns-bill-morrison-trailer
TAX, PENSIONS AND BENEFIT CHANGES FOR 2011-12
This is mainly pirated from the CSPA newsletter with some “explanatory” notes from Julian Atkinson
The Chancellor delivered his Budget proposals on 23 March 2011 and confirmed many of the changes which he had previously announced. The following items will be of particular interest to pensioners.
Value Added Tax rose from 17.5% to 20% from 04 January 2011
The Standard Rate of Insurance Premium Tax rose from 5% to 6% on 04 January 2011. The Higher rate rose from 17.5% to 20%.
From 11 April 2011, the Basic State Retirement Pension will rise from £97.65 to £102.15 per week for a single pensioner and from £156.15 to £163.35 for a couple.
From 11 April 2011 Additional Pensions will increase in line with the CPI.
The age addition for the over 80's will remain at 25 pence per week.
From 11 April 2011, the Pension Credit Guarantee will increase from £132.60 to £137.35 per week for a single pensioner and from £202.40 to £209.70 per week for a couple. The capital disregard will remain at £10,000. The Saving Credit threshold will rise from £98.40 to £103.15 for a single pensioner and from £157.25 to £164.55 for a couple.
The Government has said that it will “protect” the Winter Fuel Payment. However, we have good reason to believe that the Government intends to revert from £250 to £200 for households with someone at or over the female State Pension Age and from £400 to £300 for households with someone aged 80 or over. Some “protection”.
There has been no announcement about the Christmas Bonus, so we assume that it will remain at £10.
From 06 April 2011 the basic personal allowance for Income Tax will rise from £6,475 to £7,475. The personal allowance for someone aged 65 to 74 will rise from £9,490 to £9,940 and for someone aged 75 or more will rise from £9,640 to £10,090. The maximum income a pensioner can have and still get the age-related allowances will rise from £22,900 to £24,000 (but there will be further restrictions for those with incomes above £100,000).
The married couple’s allowance (for those aged 75 and over), will rise from £6,965 to £7,295. The allowance will be subject to an income limit of £24,000 but there will be minimum allowance of £2,800. The married couple’s allowance is given at the rate of 10%.
The blind person’s allowance will rise from £1,890 to £1,980.
From 11 April 201, Disability benefits will rise in line with the CPI.
The 10% starting rate of Income Tax for savings income will to apply to savings income between £0 and £2,560. If an individual’s taxable non-savings income is above £2,560, then the 10% savings rate will not be available for savings income. The basic Income Tax rate of 20% will apply to the first £35,000 (after the personal allowance) of taxable earned income and pensions. The 40% Income Tax rate will apply to such income above £35,000. The 50% rate will apply to income above £150,000.
The Inheritance Tax allowance will remain at £325,000 for individuals and at £650,000 for married couples and civil partners until 2014/15.
The ISA annual investment limit will rise from the current overall limit of £10,200 to £10,680 and the cash limit will rise from £5,100 to £5,340.
The standard rate of Capital Gains Tax will remain at 18% but from 23 June 2010 there has been a new higher rate of 28%. The higher rate is applicable to higher rate taxpayers. Disposals before 23 June 2010 will remain liable to the 18% standard rate. The exemption limit will rise from £10,100 to £10,600
The proposed Landline Duty will be scrapped.
For those still in employment, from 06 April 2011 the Employee National Insurance standard rate contributions will rise from 11% to 12% and the higher earnings rate will rise from 1% to 2%.
Future changes outlined in the budget were:-
Integration of Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions:
- “The Government will consult in 2011 on the options, stages and timing of reforms to integrate the operation of income tax and NICs.”
- However, “It will maintain the contributory principle and will reflect this in any changes it brings forward. In addition, the Government will not extend NICs to individuals above State Pension Age or to other forms of income such as pensions, savings and dividends.”
Change in Indexation:
- The Government announced that “from April 2012 the default indexation assumption for all direct taxes including income tax, NICs, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and ISAs will move from the RPI to the CPI. The change will apply for each year from 2012-13 except where there are specific policy commitments to increase these by a different amount.”
- “For the duration of this Parliament the annual increases in the employer NICs threshold, and the age related allowance and other thresholds for older people (including the starting rate limit for savings income, income tax age-related allowances, age-related income limits, married couples allowances and blind persons allowance), will be over-indexed compared to the CPI, and will increase by the equivalent of the RPI.”
State Pension Reform:
- The DWP will shortly publish a Green Paper consulting on proposals for moving to a single tier pension. But the change is not to apply to existing pensioners.
- The Government will shortly bring forward proposals to for the management of future changes in the State Pension age, including the option of a regular independent review of longevity changes
Income Tax Allowances:
- “The Chancellor announced that there from April 2012 there would be an increase of £630 (to £8,105) in the basic personal allowance but there was no mention of any similar increase to the personal allowances for those aged 65 or over.
Public Sector Pensions:
- The Government accepts Lord Hutton’s recommendations from the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission as a basis for consultation with public sector workers, trades unions and others: “The Government will set out proposals in the autumn that are affordable, sustainable and fair to both the public sector workforce and the taxpayer.”
- Following a full public consultation by the Treasury “the Government has decided that the appropriate discount rate for calculating unfunded public service pension contribution rates should be based on the long term expectation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. This will ensure that employment decisions made today take into account the costs passed to future taxpayers on a fair and sustainable basis. The latest OBR forecast for long-term GDP growth is 2.2 per cent above the assumed GDP deflator, equivalent to a discount rate of 2.9 per cent above the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). Given the range of uncertainties inherent in these calculations, the Government believes that a rounded figure should be used. A discount rate of 3 per cent above CPI will therefore be adopted under this methodology for future valuations. The Government proposes to review the level of discount rate every five years, and the methodology every ten years. The Government has confirmed that this change in the discount rate will not lead to an increase in member contribution rates beyond those already announced at Spending Review 2010.”
At present a discount rate of 3.5% is used. This is associated with a method of estimating future expenditure at present day prices. The effect of this change, in response to pressure from Private Pension providers, will be to inflate the supposed liability associated with public sector pensions and thus increase the pressure for further rises in employee costs or worsening of the pension paid.
Up to 70 feared dead in Colombian mine blast
Sixteen are killed in what could be one of country's worst mining accidents
AMAGA, Colombia - More than 70 Colombian miners were trapped and feared dead Thursday in an overnight coal mine explosion that killed at least 16 miners in what could be one of the country's worst mining accidents.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37755622/ns/world_news-americas/
Striking Mexican Copper miners
This article, in The Tyee
- an American news paper, tells readers about miners embattled in a three year dispute over health and safety issues:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/06/10/MexicanMiningStrike/
Dave Douglass launches Ghost Dancers
Following the launch 'Ghost Dancers' the final part of his trilogy, 'Stardust and Coaldust', Dave Douglass has been making appearances at book fairs and events around the country to discuss his work.
Here Dave talks about Ghost Dancers:
http://www.archive.org/details/DaveDouglass
http://www.archive.org/details/DaveDouglass-GhostDancers-Part2
http://www.archive.org/details/DaveDouglass-GhostDancers-Part3.QASession
A review of 'Geordies Wa Mental' the first part of Dave's trilogy:
Geordies wa Menta pdf
A review of 'Wheels still in spin', the second book in Dave's trilogy:
MinersAdvice reviews: The Wheels still in Spin
Weekly Worker 818 Thursday May 20 2010
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/
Friend, comrade, and occasional sparring partner
Obituary: Peter Heathfield, March 2 1929 - May 4 2010. David Douglass celebrates his life
It came as a great shock to many in the coalfields to hear that Peter Heathfield, the former general secretary of our National Union of Mineworkers, had died.
We were all too well aware he was seriously ill. Four years ago, he was present at the Jones-Green memorial lecture, paying tribute to all those miners who had died as fighters for the NUM. He was painfully thin, and explained that he had a wasting condition. His eyes still sparkled and he was as witty as ever, but Peter was a shadow of his former self. Still, we all hoped against hope he would pull through.
Peter was elected general secretary in January 1984 and took up office just days before the start of the miners’ Great Strike of 1984-85. He was one of the triumvirate - Arthur Scargill, Mick McGahey and Peter Heathfield - and never swerved from his solid loyalty to the union, to the action it had undertaken and to Arthur personally.
He was a Derbyshire miner through and through, who had gone down the pit after leaving school, starting underground work at the Williamthorpe colliery. Like me, Peter had the good fortune of studying on the NUM’s three-year day release course under the direction of Sheffield University’s extramural department. It was a hotbed of the new militancy breaking through the living dead the union had become in the mid-60s.
It was the Derbyshire area of the NUM which fired the first shot in the declaration of war against the old leadership in 1969 with an unofficial rally in London and then a nationwide wildcat strike, which put militancy, and an alternative leadership, on the agenda. Without that movement, the crushing victories for the miners in 1972 and 74 would not have been possible.
In 1966, Peter, who was very active in the Labour Party and its re-emerging left wing, was elected to a full-time NUM post for the first time, became vice-president of the Derbyshire NUM in 1970 and Derbyshire area secretary in 1973. Some said he would be the left’s runner for national president in 1981, while others thought this post was predestined to be Mick’s. As it turned out, the ‘left’, and in the particular the CPGB, threw their support behind the younger Scargill.
In January 1984, Peter was elected general secretary of the NUM, taking over the post from the once dynamic Lawrence Daly, who had been in ill health for some time. Without Peter’s steady hand on the tiller through those stormy days the conduct of the strike and its tenacity may have been much weaker. It was a classical case of ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man’.
Peter was a most forceful speaker, his body literally bounced on the stage with the power and emotion of his words; his body pulsed, his voice, arms and head like electric, his stomping making many a stage rock. His sweeping gestures flayed alive the scabs and police. I had shared many platforms with Peter over the years - not just for miners’ events, but to mark the anti-apartheid struggle, our opposition to the Vietnam war, our hostility to nuclear weapons. Peter was an old-style guts communist, who saw the workers coming to power through a Labour Party impelled by an independent, militant trade union movement.
He was 100% loyal to the strike, and 100% behind the strategy, which the members imposed on the union, especially over the vexed question of the ballot. Vexed as far as the media and rightwing critics were concerned, that is, not the rank and file. Even now, after his death they still get it wrong, The Guardian commenting in its obituary: “When the Conservative government announced its intention to close 20 pits, Heathfield backed Scargill from the start of the strike in March 1984, and, like his president, rejected a coalfield ballot. Yet everyone who knew Heathfield believed that he harboured inner doubts about Scargill’s strategy” (May 4).
Of course, neither Peter nor Arthur rejected a ballot at all. The national executive made no recommendation on the question, and neither spoke either in support of or against any of the five resolutions on the floor of conference called to debate that very issue. Neither voted for or against any of the propositions (Arthur was in the chair), but why spoil a good folk myth with facts?
Following the strike and the years of confused repositioning and struggles for direction and democracy in the union, he and I often clashed over how to respond to the new situation. How to remain relevant to the rank and file, what we could hold onto and what we had to let go. Peter and Arthur both felt that at pit level we were giving and repositioning too much. I believe they felt we were allowing the National Coal Board strategy of isolating the leadership to work, and we should have shut up shop and thrown away the keys until the NCB was prepared to recognise the union at national level and re-establish nationwide conciliation. On the other hand, we felt they had become remote and unrealistic - making impractical demands of a battle-scarred, exhausted army. Peter and I went toe to toe over the newly installed ‘Doncaster option’ bonus agreement, and later over Hatfield colliery’s own pit payment scheme, which I felt he did not understand and he thought was breaking ranks. Some of this is explored in my current book on the period, Ghost dancers (published by Christie and available through Central Books), I hope sympathetically. Not that any of that broke our friendship or mutual regard and we spent a great deal of time rehashing and reviewing the whole post-strike period afterwards.
The most damning thing in Peter’s life, however, was not the strike, nor even its defeat and the years of declining union power and influence which followed, but the scandalous slander unleashed by the media with their charges of financial irregularity. Worse than that, there were accusations of fiddling and double-dealing for personal gain. Peter, a man of immense pride and self-respect, principled to a fault, was mortally wounded; he never recovered from the insult and injury. The charges were launched by sensational disclosures in the Daily Mirror and by Central Television in 1990.
Actually what they had discovered was an ‘anti-personnel PR bomb’ drawn up by the state’s special ‘counter-insurgency’ forces. It was meant to go ‘boom’ in the final minutes before the expected miners’ victory, rob us of our support among our own ranks and pull the rug on solidarity action across the union movement. As things turned out, it was not needed, since the sellout by the supervisors’ union had tripped our impending victory at the post. But the device, the plot, the scandal was left in the field like an unexploded bomb, for the media to discover by accident. They were too thick to realise what it was they had found - the greatest example of state interference, of state manipulation, in an industrial dispute and the media in the past century - and instead ran it as a ‘fingers in the till’, corrupt union official story.
Most people to this day still do not realise the scale of the state’s set-up of these two men in an effort to break the strike. The NUM appointed an independent inquiry under the chairmanship of Gavin Lightman QC, which cleared both Scargill and Heathfield of all the main accusations. But Heathfield never forgave the NUM NEC for suspending him and Arthur and handing over the enquiry to the QC. He never overcame the impact of that particular kind of scandal. Despite speaking to adoring crowds at many rallies and meetings afterwards, despite being cleared of all charges, despite all the applause and backslapping, the accusation was enough to rob him of something deep and treasured.
He retired from the position of general secretary in 1992, and started a new life with his young partner, Sue Rolstone, having broken up with his first wife, the dynamic Betty, a founder-member of Women against Pit Closures and long-time communist activist, in 1989.
Peter was a thoughtful, intellectual, honest and loyal comrade. He had earned the right to a long and healthy retirement, but sadly he did not see much of that, spending years fighting off the legacy of that fearsome slander. Then to struggle with and finally be struck down by the gradually deteriorating condition he endured was a final and undeserved injustice. Peter was a giant in my book, a leader of the miners who can take his place among the biggest and best in our long history.
Peter’s body in death will be donated to science in the hope of assisting his fellow workers, just as in life it was dedicated to their struggles for justice. As such, there will be no funeral. However, a commemoration will be held at 2pm on June 30 at the Chesterfield Miners’ Welfare, Chester Street, Chesterfield S40 IDL.
Our sympathy goes out to Sue and his children, to Peter’s family, friends and comrades. A great number of leading members of the socialist, communist and trade union movement are expected to give orations or just be present at the commemoration.
It is with great sadness that we've just discovered the death of former General Secretary of the NUM Peter Heathfield.
Peter was of course the formidable leader of the miners in 1984/5 strike together with Arthur Scargill. Peter and Arthur were the subject of a state smear advanced by The Mirror and Central TV . All the charges made in the smear were proved to be totally false, but they had a deep impact on Peter who was deeply wounded by them. The last five or six years he has struggled with a degenerating condition, which he refused to give into.
We have no details of funeral arrangements as yet but will post them as soon as we get them. Our deepest sympathy goes out to Peter and his family.
Victor Lindsay : Obituary
Published in the DoncasterToday.co.uk on 29 April 2010 (Distributed in Doncaster)Victor died peacefully at his home on 26th April 2010, aged 72 years. Leaving devoted wife Val, daughters Carol, Christine, Angela, Elaine and Julie, sons-in-law Kevin, David, Tony, Garry and Mick, grandchildren Craig, Claire, Donna, Arron, Stevie, Lindsay and Ryan, great grandchildren Curtis, Charley, Kai and Callum.
Will be sadly missed.
Funeral service to take place on Wednesday 5th May 2010 at
St. Luke's Church, Rossington at 2.00 p.m. followed by interment at Wadworth Lane Cemetery, Rossington at 2.45 p.m.
Family flowers only please. Donations if desired may be sent to
The Sheffield Institute Foundation for Motor Neurone Disease.
C/o W.E. Pinder & Son, 19 Thorne Road, Bawtry, Doncaster,
DN10 6QL.
Enquiries tel: 01302 710285
May Day 2010
We took part in 3 events this weekend; South Tyneside May Day social on Friday, Tyne & Wear May Day march and rally on Saturday, and DIY Aye Festival on Saturday.
We have sold out of our batch of 'Maggie, Hurry and Die' T-shirts already!) and signed up 2 new members.
On Friday, Dave D spoke about his new book at the South Tyneside May Day social alongside an NESSN/NUT speaker and Unison speaker. We had a stall there.
On Saturday we marched with the Tyne & Wear IWW banner through Newcastle to the rally in Exhibition park, where we had another stall, which was then moved to the DIY Aye Festival in the afternoon.
The meeting we put on at DIY aye was well attended, with 2 good guest speakers from RMT and a Unite/BA worker, as well as Dave D speaking on behalf of IWW. There was an open discussion, which went so well people carried on well after the meeting finished.
Later in the evening we hosted a folk and poetry evening which got the crowd singing along and demanding a few encores
Click the link below to see a You Tube video showing the fun had at the Tyne & Wear May Day social evening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij5Axn6EzBg
From trade union comrades in the USA
Feds Cite Operator Alpha for Mine Inundation
Feds cite operator Alpha for inundation that trapped 7 miners for nearly 24 hours
By TIM HUBER AP Business Writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. January 14, 2010 (AP) The Associated Press
Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources has been cited for safety violations that federal investigators say contributed to a flood that trapped seven men in an underground West Virginia mine last year.
While the men walked out of Alpha's Alma A Mine unharmed after nearly 24 hours, Mine Safety and Health Administration director Joe Main said they were lucky to survive.
"The mine operator's failure to properly maintain underground diversion systems and escapeways could just as easily have ended in tragedy," Main said in a statement. "This accident underscores the need for mine operators to always maintain escapeways so they are available for use by miners when they need them."
Rick Nida, a spokesman for Abingdon, Va.-based Alpha, noted the miners were not injured and that the area was devastated by heavy rain the day of the accident.
"We think the miners and the others followed well-established safety protocols and safety procedures," Nida said. "We haven't yet reviewed fully that MSHA report and so we'll reserve our right to comment later."
Underground coal mines are required to keep primary and secondary escape routes isolated so miners can exit if there is an accident. The danger of compromised escape routes was underscored by a fatal 2006 fire at another West Virginia mine, which prompted sweeping new safety requirements.
Heavy rain inundated southern West Virginia on May 9, which MSHA determined caused the Mingo County mine to flood after debris, mud and rock blocked culverts at its entrances. The agency cited Alpha for failing to maintain underground diversion systems and escape routes at the mine.
It is unclear whether MSHA has decided how much to fine Alpha and a spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MSHA said water levels reached 9 feet in some parts of the mine, forcing the trapped men to seek refuge on high ground until rescue crews pumped out the mine.
Investigators blamed Alpha for not monitoring and maintaining diversion ditches designed to move water from mine entrances and for failing to monitor areas where water entered the mine. According to MSHA's investigation report, Alpha has corrected the problems.
MALTBY NUM BRANCH
YORKSHIRE AREA
25th ANNIVERSARY of the MINERS STRIKE
MALTBY PROGRESSIVE CLUB
SATURDAY 13th FEBRUARY 2010 at 7 PM
SPEAKERS TO INCLUDE : ARTHUR SCARGILL
(NUM HONARARY PRESIDENT), IAN LAVERY (NUM
NATIONAL PRESIDENT), KEN CAPSTICK (ex NUM
YORKSHIRE AREA VICE PRESIDENT)
Entertainment by the GUTTERBAND
FOR TICKETS CONTACT THE MALTBY NUM BRANCH OFFICE ON 01709 810132
Or
STEVE MACE (DELEGATE) ON 07775931523
NICK HARRIS(SECRETARY) ON 07967517136
A story of coal and conflict
Monday 28 December 2009
Vicki Smith
It was a slap heard all round the coalfields. Cordelia Ruth Tucker, wearing the fluorescent striped shirt of a miner, strode past West Virginia state troopers and into a stream of marchers protesting against mountain-top removal mining to deliver an audible smack.
The Rock Creek woman isn't talking as she awaits trial on a battery charge. Her neighbour, environmental activist Judy Bonds, says that she was on the receiving end of the slap.
And Bonds fears that more blows will follow as the fight escalates over mountain-top removal, the uniquely Appalachian form of strip mining that involves blowing tops off mountains and dumping the rubble in valleys.
For nearly a decade, environmentalists and the mining industry battled in courtrooms and the Capitol. Arrests were unheard of.
But this year, as mountain-top removal has drawn more scrutiny from regulators, policy-makers and the public, the activists' strategy changed.
There have been nearly 100 arrests in 20 protests, most involving trespassing. Led by a new group called Climate Ground Zero, the activists have chained themselves to giant dump trucks, scaled 80-foot trees to stop blasting and paddled into a nine-million-gallon sludge pond. They've blocked roads, hung banners and staged sit-ins.
Virginia-based Massey Energy claims that a single three-and-a-half-hour occupation at Progress Coal Co in Twilight cost the company $300,000.
Two environmentalists pleaded no contest to battery after that incident for trying to push past a miner and climb a 20-storey earth-moving crane.
Read the rest of this article here:
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/84950
Death of a Hatfield Main NUM
Union stalwart and Doncaster coalfield
Character Pat Bennet
| We are greatly saddened by the death on Friday 20 th November of Pat Bennet. Pat was a dearly treasured Hatfield miner and member of the Dunscroft / Stainforth / Hatfield community. His funeral took place on Wed 25 th November in a packed Hatfield Parish church filled to capacity, by friends and neighbours, comrades and marra's. As the coffin was brought in the stirring strains of the international miners anthem The Miners Lifeguard echoed round the church. |  Pat Bennet, Eggy Palmer, Ann Scargill, Dave Douglass |
Miners life is like a sailors, board a ship to sail the waves
Constant dangers always facing
Yet he ventures, still being brave.
Watch the rocks, there falling daily
Careless miners always fail
Keep your hands upon your wages
Keep your eyes upon the scale
Union Miners!
Stand together
Do not heed the owner's tale
Keep your hands upon your wages
Keep your eyes upon the scale.
The old Hatfield NUM Branch banner was displayed in the heart of the Church, next to where the coffin was laid. Upon the coffin, Pats, beloved flip flops for which he had become famed over recent years as he led a gang of kids to parks, and walks, and shops.
One of Pat's brothers Tony gave a short, deeply moving oration, touching on Pats enormous character and sense of fun and family. Dave Douglass's powerful oration was followed by Pats little Granddaughter Georgina reading a moving little poem, with great heroism and self-control assisted by Pat's daughter Lisa.
In keeping with our mining traditions as Tony struggled to read his statement, Eggy Palmer who has been a rock for the whole family during this terrible period, stood by his side with his arm round his shoulder.
David Douglass, the long running Delegate and Secretary delivered the main oration at Hatfield and strike leader. Pat greatly admired Dave and was a passionate supporter of the branch.
This was Dave's delivery:-
Despite the tragic circumstances that bring us here, it is an honour to be able to come up and say a few words in memory of Pat and everything he meant to us as miners, trade unionists, comrades and mates.
I suspected I'd have difficulty, saying these few words, but then I think what would Pat do, if he were at a funeral of a dear friend.
Pat would have been out there telling the tale, cracking jokes, knocking people about, mindful of the loss, but full of the joy of being alive. And That was Pat,
Ill be brief…though
I can just here Pat saying, Hey-up. Yi were never brief when I was at your meetings.
Pat was and is an inspiration
He took life with two hands, and revelled in it, intervened into life, enjoyed life,
A rock n roller, jack the lad, irrepressible comic and lover of the crack.. though he didn't always get the story right mind. his version was often better than the original.
There are not many diamonds in coalmines, but Pat was one.
I can't think of any situation, nomatter how dangerous, fraught, or charged where Pat didn't take it on with a smile on his face and an optimism which radiated to everyone round him.
In your life, you meet thousands of people maybe hundreds of thousands of people who drift in and out and you scarce remember most of them .But now and again, someone enters your life, who is so full of character and charisma, uniquely themselves. that they leave an indelible mark on your life too, That was Pat,
How many people in Doncaster or the South Yorkshire coalfield as a whole never heard of Pat Bennet or couldn't come up and tell you of some magic moment or memorable event they shared with him?
Like his card game in the middle of the Orgreave riot, with a good hand he refused to yield as the cavalry and riot shields bore down on them, waited until everyone else threw their hands in and took off, before grabbing up the much prised cash and taken off with the horses literally breathing down his neck.
It would be scarcely possible to remember Pat without remembering the great strike of 84/5. a strike in which Pat and Maggie, and many people in this room stood their ground, in the teeth of adversary , fighting not for some intangible idealistic goal, as some have suggested, but the very real and pragmatic values of a living community, brotherhood and sisterhood, comradeship, the right not just to earn a living but to do so with some dignity, with some control on the work and direction of your own skills and initiative. To defend the ability of wa union to intervene into life and challenge the status quo, challenge the rich and powerful and put the stamp of working people on the world we live in. Maggie was one of the original founders of Women Against Pit closures, back in 83 the year before the great strike. That was a fight Pat and many people here threw themselves into body and soul, but Pat was one a handful of men, who were prepared to stake everything on the line, risking life and liberty, in resistance to the armed boys in black who came to make us accept Thatcher's dictates. We can't discuss that here, but I will never forget that unswerving loyalty and heroism. It was worth a fight, look at where we are now, look at the losses we as a class and as a people have faced, the loss of community, of trust, of mutual respect, the cancer of unemployment, hopelessness, anti social crime, and the very fabric the miners generation and generation painfully put together. We were right to fight. And by God from time to time the Police knew they bitten off more than could chew when they came across Pat in full flight…I remember my famous motorway blockade, and them dragging drivers from their cars, and then coming upon Pat, who skittled a whole squadron of them, and them asking “Who the hell is that ?” I don't think he even took the tab out of his mouth. You have just, met the met they used to boast, well they'd just met Pat Bennet.
There is much that could be said about Pats contribution and much will be said but not here..Pat stood with his mates, against police dogs, riot shields, truncheons and cavalry charges, for twelve months hard struggle
ITS TRUE TO SAY Pat wasn't always lucky….at times he was extremely unlucky, Set the perilous task of extracting the face side arch support of the retreat mined roadway to allow the machine to cut by, we had warned the management that this being a retreat face the wieght would have come on and sunk the great iron leg of the arch into the floor. Pat had sought to pull it out by wrapping a chain around it, and connecting it to a hydraulic ram set on pull back. An irresistible force meeting an unmovable object, that's the ram by the way not Pat,
So Pat takes cover round a corner while the metal and chain strain against each other, the pit being the pit, and Pat's luck being Pat's luck, the steel link breaks, and flies down the tunnel and round the corner where it smashes into Pats jaw and buries itself deep into his jawbone smashing it in the process. There are two things I remember most about this, three things if we recall we couldn't give him morphia because it was a head injury, one was that in the middle of the operation the Hatfield Management demanded the link back, because they knew we wanted it for evidence, even accusing us of stealing it. seriously….and the second thing is that being in indescribably agony Pat had swore blue murder and f…n and blinded all an sundry as well you might. We are told on his recovery; he bought all the nurses a box of roses for having sworn at them, Maggie responded that he'd been swearing at her for years and never bought her any boxes of roses.
Pat was a body and soul union man, he believed in the miners union in the way some people hold religion or nationality, his union was his faith….he was following the strike elected to the position of the union committee, although Pat never did get the nuances of Industrial relations and conciliation, Red faced and banging on the undermanagers desk with his huge fist…get up that pit lane and lets sort this out…
He had demanded and the undermanager to his credit, leapt from behind his desk and they marched off the pit lane, intent on some rough negotiations.
There were many such negotiations after the strike as the weight came on against the miners and our union.
In the pits, there is one quality prised above all others,
a mans underground worth which gives value to his surface self….that quality is loyalty. You need to know that your marra is there watching your back, without having to look, your life is in his hands, Pat had the quality in great measure, indeed Pat never did anything by halves, of all the men in that Union branch, in this community, at that pit , during strikes, or on the street Pat was one of the loyalist men I ever knew.
Our movement and this community can ill afford to loose a man like Pat Bennet, there are not enough Pat Bennets in the world, there is a huge gap where this man, wor marra, wa comrade and friend was, he will be greatly missed, never forgotten.
In conclusion someone once said, ask not for whom that bell tolls, it tolls for thee! and the truth is, Pat just caught an earlier draw, we'll all be riding soon, so in the meantime, we should appreciate life in the way that Pat valued it, and intervened into it, and that perhaps is his most lasting inspiration to us all.
Following the service and the burial at Hatfield Woodhouse cemetery, a packed reception was held at the Broadway Hotel with all Pat's family and friends. Many a yarn was told and good joke enjoyed, the whole thing was so touching, deep, and honest, Pat would have hated to miss it, though in a sense of course, he didn't. He will always be in our hearts.
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NUM National Executive Committee Elections –
Yorkshire Area Aug 2009
Separating the pillock from the politics and the principles.
By David Douglass. NUM
Any full member who received his voting paper and the candidates election statements through the post this week, will be hard pressed to see behind the
venom and the flem what's really going on here.
The principle contestant in this election isnt on the ballot paper, for this election is actually about whether Arthur Scargill continues to exert huge influence in this union and is able to manipulate events, policies and direction or his control and influence should be curtained. It is also, about whether he will continue to have any position in the future or not. You will not find anything about this on the election material but at base, this is what the whole controversy and court cases have been about. This why we are having another NEC election at great financial and social cost to the union. By the way, the case against the union and its rules under which we conducted the last set of elections, and are now ruled unlawful; was taken by Arthur Scargill with the support of Ken Capstick. It was Arthur who drew up these rules. Now, when out of office considers unfair, which he deemed perfectly fair when in office. His defence of this slight of hand movement in the court was that ‘two wrong don't make a right'.
When Arthur reached 65, he should in accordance with rule have retired. Instead, he imposed, with the help of some well-placed Yorkshire Area Officials of the union, a new rulebook, on the whole union. It allowed him to stay on until he was 75. Allowed him to earn consultancy fees, and take on a role in the union as ‘honorary president'.
In order to impose the new rules and make them stick the most extraordinary misuse of power took place involving the swinging of national votes and conferences by use of non-existing branches and even non-existing areas, and the use of limited members votes. This latter included using the votes of dead miners, or their widows, non-members, and in any case members who had no idea that their votes were being cast at the discretion of Arthur in support of rules and policies he himself favoured but the bulk of the union didn't. The union was wracked with internal struggles between Arthur's bureaucratic supporters and the democratic branches and areas.
The election of Chris Kitchen marked the end of this period. The Limited member's votes were no longer to be used in this undemocratic fashion. The non-existent branches were ruled as non-existent. National conferences would no longer be manipulated by hundreds of votes cast by a single national official from a non-existent National Office Branch.
It also means that Arthur whose contract ends in three years time will finally have his hand taken off the levers of power and his voice from the ear holes of those in office. He does not like any of that.
A counter attack has been launched by the Maltby branch, using Steve Mace as effectively Arthur's champion. The intention of Steve's challenge is to move Chris from office as General Secretary of the Union , Yorkshire area secretary and NEC member. This was done by firstly a challenge to the TU commissioner that the rules, which required 30% of the nominations from branches to stand, were unfair, that they stopped him standing for the NEC. This challenge was supported and argued for by the man who actually introduced those rules, Arthur Scargill. He introduced those rules to the effect that they stopped ME standing for the NEC on two occasions, a number of people think that's what they were designed to do. Now Arthur comes to court to argue that his rules are unfair. No problem there they were unfair and are unfair so they have to be changed. This is what has caused the re-election. Incidentally, he also argued that the ‘rotten borough' Area Office Branch that was a pure fiction and bureaucratic device should be recognised as legal. The commissioner chose not to do that, although Arthur is appealing on dubious ‘points of law' on this issue. At the bottom of this manoeuvre is an attempt to create a non-working members branch, which will be bigger than the rest of the union, and be under his political and personal control with card votes to swing and manipulate conference. This is a goal which runs completely against the thrust of Steve's election address and one wonders if he is aware what the master plan is .
It's a fact that the bulk of the union rules we live under are the rules which Arthur introduced and we opposed at the time as unfair, but were over-ruled by him and his supporters.
He brought in bi-annual conferences, which meant we could now only have a conference every two years, and limited the number of rules we could change every two years. So the legacy Chris has inherited is one he was left by Arthur and his comrades. Now Arthur and his supporters in the shape of Ken Capstick and Steve Mace run for the NEC in support of Arthur, on the basis that Arthur's own rules are unfair! Well we can agree on that, but the fault isnt and never has been Chris Kitchen's. It's the fault of the man they are running in support of! It's a conundrum only Arthur could create.
Let us be right, the arguments which Steve Mace (nominee from the Maltby Branch) puts forward in his election address are sound as a pound. In principle, there is nothing wrong with the demands he makes and we should all take steps to change the rules to ensure they are put right. This has nothing to do with being elected to the NEC though and everything to do with submitting rule changes which will set things right. What is illegitimate is the suggestion that electing Steve or anyone else for that matter to the NEC can change some of the ongoing injustices in the industry. The MPS (Mineworkers Pension Scheme) government rip off billions of pounds from the fund surpluses cannot be resolved by a change on the NEC of the NUM. The NUM doesn't have and never has had a majority on the MPS Pension Fund committee, it is also not allowed by law to mandate its members who ARE representatives on that body. The union's campaign against the government rip off is high profile and on record there is nothing we haven't done on this matter that we could have done and neither Steve nor none of the other candidates can suggest what action we could take to win justice. I personally favour kidnapping and shooting the government spokespersons responsible for the robbery of the miner's money, but you couldn't really run as an MPS trustee on that basis. Likewise the election of Steve to the NEC will not ensure that Hatfield Main Colliery, adopt the same principle on sick leave as that enjoyed by Maltby and Kellingley collieries which are owned by separate companies and were transferred under TUPE and protected agreements, whereas Hatfield closed, and broke the protection. Unless Steve will campaign for Area Wide Strike Action across the coalfield to win parity at Hatfield. A demand we would of course support him on, but he has no mandate to offer.
In fact, it is my opinion that a defeat for Chris Kitchen will lead directly to the rules staying as they are with the complained of impediments and going back to the even worse position we were in before Chris got elected. The fact is Arthur's team see Chris and his supporters as a block to their control of the union, that's why they want him out. Steve's complaints are quite legitimate, Arthurs use of them and him are not.
Lets be clear, we have nothing whatever against Steve Mace who seems a genuine hard working union miner. He may be impervious of the politics which sit beneath the surface of inter union battles. His demands are in many cases sound enough, lets exam them, and suggest some solutions.
Firstly, Steve declares that he is the only working miner in the election, but then is running in tandem with Ken Capstick who is likewise not a working miner. Ken has a long and proud record of accomplishment in this union and he is a close comrade and friend of mine and has been for most of my life in the union. I admire and respect Ken. This fact alone (no not that I happen to like Ken , but his role and commitment) and the fact that he is editor of The Miner surely give him the right to run for the NEC even though he isnt a working miner at this time ? If you support Steve's argument, you cant vote for his running mate Ken can you ? Yorkshire has a full time Area Secretary, Chris Kitchen, if you're a full time area union official obviously you can't be down the pit at the same time. It would be slightly mad not to allow your Area General Secretary to run for one of the two positions on the NEC, so Chris too must surely be entitled to run for this committee. Yes, Steve is right, it is utterly wrong that not a single working miner sits on the NEC and that situation ought to be resolved by rule change to ensure working miners do have positions on the NEC. Areas, which have working miners and mines, must ensure that half of the available seats are taken by working miners from the coalfield they work in. That can only be done by rule change, Steve and Maltby can do that now, regardless of the NEC elections I'm sure every working branch would vote for it.
The problem is, we only have five or six mines spread over four areas. At the same time, we have areas, which have no mines but an army of retired and limited members and their dependants who need the services of the union. Either you stop these areas having representatives on the NEC or you greatly restrict their numbers against areas with working miners. This too can only be resolved by conference and rule change. Electing Steve would of course put one working miner on the NEC but it wouldn't resolve the principle. Only rule change can do that and again, Steve's branch or any other can put that forward.
Finally, Steve turns to the question of official's salaries. This is something we at Hatfield fought hard for thirty plus years. The principle should not be making salaries equivalent to senior directors of the NCB, as it was in Arthur's day, nor should it be equivalent to MPs salaries as it is now. Officials should be paid no more than the average earnings in the area they represent, or equivalent to working areas in the case of areas without working miners. This can only be resolved by rule change and national conference decisions. It cannot be resolved by simply electing someone onto the NEC. If the issue is a principle, and it is, it must be resolved through the decision making bodies of the union as a whole, it cannot be resolved by electing someone to NEC, the NEC does not make these rules, conference does, although the NEC can propose them too. It is far more likely the rule change required will come from Branches, through Areas to Conference.
These issues are issues we would campaign alongside Steve on, through area and national conference. At this time, because of the underlying political agenda we could not however call for a vote for him. Hatfield Main Branch nominated Chris Kitchen and Dave Hatfield the current branch secretary at Hatfield to the NEC and has called for all our members to vote for them. We consider Steve to be a sincere and loyal member of this union and worthy of respect, as we do all the candidates in this election. Let us debate these issues up front and out in the open and also talk about the history and agenda's which underpin them. That is the way of a democratic union something which we at Hatfield have fought for since our inception as a branch way back in 1918.
David Douglass full NUM member these last 42 years and former, EC member and Branch Official for 26 years at Hatfield.
Worker-intellectual who fell prey to the right
David Douglass looks back at the life of Lawrence Daly:
October 20 1924-May 23 2009
Weekly Worker Jul 3rd 2009
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/776/workerint.php
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New from ChristieBooks First Launch of The Wheels Still In Spin, Thursday 7th May, |