Other News
The latest news affecting miners and the mining industry
Death Of George Crozier
Another sad loss for the miners of Hatfield
Arthur
proposes to stay put
Rules are rules, sometimes.
We are sorry to report the
death of Frank Cave
General Secretary of the Yorkshire Area of the NUM, and Vice President
of the NUM nationally
Tragic death of our fellow
Hatfield Miner Johnny Burns.
Miners of Hatfield shocked by the news of this sad loss
Dave Douglass
adds his thoughts on the VWF tests
Dave replies to Dave Dufton on the question of the rules for testing for
VWF
Claim for industrial
injuries benefit
Information received regarding claims for VWF which the DSS had previously
turned down.
Prince
of Wales Colliery to close
UK Coal have announced that the Prince
of Wales Colliery will close later this year, with the loss of over 500
jobs
Prince of Wales
colliery threatened with closure.
UK Coal announce they will begin a review of the POW mine
Orgreave
Again!
Preview of Channel 4’s Battle Of Orgeave, Sheffield Showroom Cinema
No Role For
Coal
This alarming report appeared on the Yorkshire Post's Online News web
site.
Surprisingly Generous
DTI Decision
Claims allowed to be made for VWF by families of deceased miners
Electrifying
news from Hatfield Colliery
The latest from Hatfield
JUSTICE
FOR MARK BARNSLEY
CAMPAIGN BULLETIN-AUTUMN 2001
Vibration white finger
test score riddle
The goal posts which have moved secretly in the night
'King
Coal' takes over colliery
Ananova, the best source of news on the internet reports on the latest
developments at Hafield Main
ROSSINGTON COLLIERY,
DONCASTER
7 WEEKS STILL ON STRIKE.
Hatfield
Main Update
The latest news on the fight to save Hatfield
SUDDEN KNOCK BACK ON PIT WOMEN’S EQUAL VALUE CLAIMS.
Dave Murdock,
Doncaster COSA Official Wins Major Case Against NUM.
Hatfield
Main News Update
Result of Preferred Bidder Due To Be Announced
Update
on Hatfield Pit Closure Struggle
Potential buyers assess the Hatfield Prospect
Weekly
Worker 396 Thursday August 23 2001
Class War's reply to Weekly Worker
Mark Barnsley
Has Been Moved from Wakefield Prison
The latest news on Mark Barnsley
Hatfield Miners March
For Jobs
As Part of the Campaign By The Hatfield Miners To Save Their Pit The men
marched in defiant procession, with the lodge banner flying, down the
pit lane to the colliery office.
Mass Meeting
of The Hatfield Miners
A crowded meeting in the big room of The Fox, took place on Saturday 11
Aug.
Shock
closure announcement of Hatfield Main Colliery.
Thursday 9th August 2001:
The announcement that Hatfield Main Colliery is to close came as great
shock to all concerned.
For more news items visit our Other
News pages
Our News, Views & Updates page was getting a little on the
large side, so to aid faster loading times I have moved the older news
items to Other News Pages
Main News Views & Updates Page
Other News5 - Jan 2004- Jan 2005
Back to the Miner's Advice Home Page
News Items
Death Of George Crozier
Coming so soon after the death of Johnny Burns, Hatfield Colliery is once more struck by the death of another of its most famous and popular men. George Crozier died on 11 Feb. He had been ill for some time.
George was an immensely popular man, most of us had worked most of our lives with George underground. Last off he was an popular and humorous overman but was regarded exactly as he had been on the face.
When I first came to Yorkshire from Tyneside I was dumped onto the very alien pit bottom, where George was an experienced operator. He took me under his wing and did his best to stop me killing myself in the fury of tubs flying in all directions. At that time George’s native Scottishness was far more in evidence and my unbroken Geordie amused him . George joined our unofficial Haulage Workers Committee in the fight to implement safety rules and develop a job rotation scheme to save any hapless lad being given a life sentence on the ‘straight’ or top deck empties, two crucifying pit bottom jobs. Later he and his wife came to our folk music sessions at ‘The George Hotel’ which were held to raise medical aid for Vietnam for the heroic anti-imperialist fighters. He didn't follow us down the political road but concentrated on developing his skills as a dedicated miner and official of the mine. A natural organiser his forte was administration of supplies and getting needed tackle to the front, a skill few other Overman ever seemed to master. George was all his life a happy man, he was much thought of in the Hatfield coal community, our sympathy goes out to family. The service and committal will be on Wed 20th Feb. 11 a.m. His friends and comrades are expected to turn out in great numbers.
Arthur’s amassing proposals !
Many looked foreword to at least the prospect of Arthur reaching his 65th birthday, when of course the rules (and the law) would ensure he retired and the long suffering membership could at last submit nominations as to who it would like as the new president. Maybe even, there would be more than one candidate, and we could actually have an election in which the members would vote. Surely he wouldn't try and rule from the constitutional grave, would he ?
A letter to Yorkshire branches Dec. 5th from the president informed us of a Special Meeting of Yorkshire NUM Council ( the assembly of branch representatives) on Dec. 11. There was no agenda.
When the meeting was convened the first point of business Arthur imposed was to remove Nigel Pearse, the Area Vice chairman from the chair he would assume the chair himself. Next instead of the rule necessitating only one representative per branch could vote (the delegate) Branch secretaries and trustees who were present could also vote. This was objected to by the Maltby delegate who insisted we should stick to rule, one vote per branch, but also they should be informed of what it was they were going to be voting on.
Mr Scargill began by saying that owing to serious illness Frank Cave, would need to retire very quickly. There were only two options open, one an election to replace him or option 2. Option 2 was given verbally without any documentation. Frank national Vice President, (& we had always assumed the Yorkshire Area Secretary, but Arthur had ruled earlier we didn't in fact have an Area Secretary) would retire. The President AS would leave full time employment 31/6/2002 and then become ‘Honorary President’ until 31/12/2011. He will also continue to preside over the IEMO (International Energy & Miners Organisation) to that date. The NEC of the NUM elects a lay chairman from within the NEC who chairs all meetings and appeals committee and the general policy committee of IEMO, IEMO Central Bureau and International Executive. A lay Vice Chair to be elected from NEC every two years. (Dave Douglass has described the IEMO as "an officers club it is totally unaccountable to the members in any country and functions as a well heeled version of Saga Holidays for full time officials or lay officials being patronised" ) That it is almost exclusively controlled by Arthur is witnessed by the fact under these proposals ostensibly to do with the NUM, he would stay as President of the IEMO while the treasurer of that organisation we are told is one of the clerks in the Barnsley offices, and now the chair of the IEMO and most of its committees would be drawn by chance of whoever the NUM NEC chose to vote in as its chair. Obviously the tens of millions of miners and energy workers world-wide who we are told look to the IEMO for leadership aren't invited to nominate or vote on who will be its representatives. Actually we doubt that they know of its existence. The North East Area was later to raise the strange connection between affiliation to IEMO for ten years in conjunction with Arthur as Honorary President for the same ten years. Some very dodgy interplay seemed afoot. Also almost unnoticed Arthur would likewise retain the position of Chairman of the Trustees of the NUM Full Time Officials and Staff Superannuation Scheme, again for ten years. ‘Why ?’ hangs about like a ghost at a wedding but no-one seems to suggest how these apparently separate anomalies hang together.
In Yorkshire, two Area Agents are to be taken on at a fixed annual salary paid from Yorkshire Area Funds in a joint election in January 2002. (now Feb. )Agent no 1 (the one with the highest vote in Yorkshire) will be responsible for delegate meetings, staffing and finance of the Yorkshire Area & the NUM Nationally. Agent no 2 would be in charge of industrial relations matters of the Yorkshire coalfield. Branches can only nominate one candidate for both positions, and so cannot select the most suitable candidate for either respective post.
The Yorkshire Area must agree to continue the affiliation fee of the whole Union to the IEMO at least until 2011.
All of this to be put to the NEC and a conference convened to approve it.
Mr Scargill will be paid only £12000 pa from the Yorkshire Area fund to pay for ongoing work.
The proposal was a bombshell, riddled with injustice, not least it meant one of these national positions could only be filled by a Yorkshire candidate and not anyone selected from the other affiliated coalfields. A Scottish NEC member described the proposals as being for a Yorkshire Union Of Mineworkers.
Nigel Pearse the Area Vice Chair spoke passionately against these proposals saying "when your time is up you go, you leave it to the Union membership to decide who follows you". Oddly some delegate spoke passionately in favour of the proposals and in great detail illustrating that they at least knew what proposals were coming up and which way they would be voting.( In fact many of the Yorkshire NEC members had been called in to one of Arthur’s cosy fireside chats in which he takes you into his esteemed confidence and ‘relies on you’ to support the line.)
At this point Jeff Stubbs, Maltby delegate proposed a point of order in that this meeting contravened the rules. Specifically Rule 29a which states that these matters should first be circulated to branches, and therefore the members before any such meeting could be convened.
When put to the vote the proposals were carried 5 votes to 3 ( Maltby Gascoigne Wood, and Stillingfleet opposing).
The following Ordinary Council meeting of the Yorkshire Area, 17/12/2001 Arthur begins the meeting by saying Maltby had written in objecting to the decisions of the last meeting. He would allow the delegate to speak briefly in support of that objection and then rule against it ! The Maltby delegate flatly refused to go down this road because the minutes of the 11th had not been circulated to branches, and were not on this agenda.
The first time the Branches as such got to see these devastating proposals was via a Branch Circular of 19 Dec. This circular informed the branches that these proposals had in fact already been put before the NEC on 12 Dec. and been approved for circulation. Only on the 7/ 1/ 2001 were minutes of the special meeting and subsequent meeting circulated. These minutes announced that the Yorkshire Area had already agreed to the proposals by 5 votes to 3 ! Before any of the branches to say nothing of the rank and file members had seen a sight of them. At Hatfield the proposals produced an outrage, and news began to filter out to the press, which is where most members got to hear about it. The whole thing was supposed to be ‘confidential’. Dave Douglass came in for some viscous criticism for having spoken to the press about the proposals, an in reality given the game away.
A further special Council meeting and Special National Delegate conference were convened to finalise the proposals.
The Yorkshire meeting again seen challenges to the minutes and the legality of the earlier decisions, these failed by 4 votes to 5 and the meat of the proposals were debated.
Delegates variously made the point , that we were depriving the members of the Union the right to decide who their national representative would be, the right to dismiss and re-elect representatives .Representative were representatives not rulers. The other affiliated sections like Wales, Scotland and the North East were having a Yorkshire appointee imposed on them from the Yorkshire Area alone. Arthur was insisting the position Honorary President was just that, it was just a title. Nigel Pearse asked why he needed a title , people would still know who he was without any title. Dave Douglass asked if it was just a title why were we abolishing the position of National President, why if we were having two employees in Yorkshire we couldn't have the Yorkshire Area Secretary and President back which Arthur had fought so long to get rid of. Why was it a package, you could only have all and not some of the proposals, why couldn't we put forward alternative proposals, why was it all being rushed through now ? The questions kept coming but supporters of the move weren't interested. Half way through the debate Arthur announces that the legal advice he has been given by the TUC is that more than 50% of the proposals are illegal and cannot be implemented. So will the proposals now be amended to fall in line with the requirements of TU legislation (to say nothing of members rights) ? No it will not, it will despite its impracticality still be put as it is, and this will also be the case at the forthcoming National Conference.
The vote would be crucial, if Arthur had lost here he would loose at conference and he couldn't afford to do that. Those against ; Maltby, Hatfield, Kellingley, Gascoigne Wood, and Stillingfleet. Those for; Yorkshire Winders, Prince Of Wales (widely rumoured not to have consulted the members on the decision) Wistow. Ricccall and most surprising of all Rossington , previously regarded as a dissident branch. Arthur then called for a card vote, which on the face of it, the oppositionists ought to have won given the relative sizes of the branches. He would not, as per usual use Dec. 2001 membership figures but instead use Jan 2002. Where these figures came from we are not sure but it resulted in a vote of 1207 for and 1128 against. A number of people expressing great surprise at what seemed to be inflated membership numbers for some approving pits. One Colliery in for example was commonly believed to have 220 members but was given a card vote of 275. Just the margin of difference needed for Arthur to win the vote. Truth is we don't know for certain but there is great mistrust.
If all this wasn't bad enough when it gets to the floor of the National Conference it gets worse. Arthur, despite calls for an impartial chair, decided to chair the conference himself, contrary to all past practice and natural justice.
Next Jeff Stubbs from Maltby made heroic efforts to raise crucial points of order. These were centred on Rule 26b a rule inserted by Arthur himself which protects his employment until his 65th birthday when he must retire. This rule itself had built in protection to ensure that it could never be changed by any conference ever. Arthur's new set of proposals run into his old rule. Despite protests from the floor Arthur ruled that this rule didn't apply at this conference !
The North East’s objections in particular were centred on the Special Delegate Conference and the proceeding NEC meeting. Anticipating some sharp moves they had sent a letter in requesting that the issue of strengths of Area card votes be discussed by the NEC. This letter was not discussed. When it came to the vote like the earlier vote in Yorkshire some area strengths seemed way above their actual membership, and the National Office vote 822 wiped out the combined voting strength of South Wales, North East and Scotland. These national office votes posed serious questions , who says the figure is 822 ? Where any of these 822 consulted as to the vote or asked their opinion ? Of course they were not.
We were given assurances from Arthur that given the legal advice the ‘chair’ of the NEC and (we think) the ‘secretary’ will now have to come up for nomination from branches and where more than one candidate is standing face a national ballot of the membership. However in order to stand candidates must have nominations of at least 30% of the electorate; this again mitigates almost impossibly against non-Yorkshire nominations. In any case he refused to rewrite the proposal or refer it back to areas for amendment in the light of the legal advise and insisted that the vote would be taken on his package as it stood. This was utter nonsense and had most of the conference shaking their heads in utter disbelief.
Arthur ruled that there would be area card votes, the card vote will be, those men working in the industry plus Limited Members. Limited Members are people who are having their industrial damages claims, like Vibration White Finger and Chronic Bronchitis, handled by constituents of the NUM who are paying a portion of those membership fees to the national union. This means Areas such as South Wales, Scotland and the North East who process such claims themselves through ‘retired membership’ schemes paid only to those areas, will not have those members counted in the vote. The effect is that ‘dead areas’ with no working mines or miners will easily outvote three areas in which miners and mines still labour. Only 4,000 working miners belong to the NUM but a collective card vote of 11,623 were recorded in favour of the proposals. Among this figure was a vote of 822 for ‘the National Office’ ! Obviously 822 people do not work in the National Office so one can only assume these are people who are having claims handled by the national office. NONE of these Limited Members and especially not those of the National Office have ever been asked to vote on the issue or even consulted on it. Arthur's National Office vote, outvotes the whole working mine membership of The North East, & Scotland . What is worse many of these ‘Limited Members’ not only were never miners themselves (they could be relatives of deceased miners ) at least a number of them are workers from other industries who just happen to have signed up for the NUM’s solicitors to run their industrial injuries claims under the Ltd Membership scheme. So some former steelworker or shipyard worker can have his vote cast (without any consultation or knowledge) whilst a retired miner in the North East, Scotland or Wales will be disallowed a vote. Some of the papers picked up on the fact that since what are counted are actually ‘mandates’ to pay the subs at some future date if and when the claim gets settled, a number of the votes are from people who have already died before their claims reached finality. So not only non miners but dead non miners can outvote the man at the pick point.
So the vote goes through. The whole thing is literally scandalous, it will cost us dear in disillusioned membership, in reputation and our ability as a Union to do the things we are supposed to be there for, to fight for the miners. The press has recently broadcast loud and clear that another, terminal assault is due on the already minute mining industry. The miners web site www.minersadvice.co.uk two years ago warned that ‘long term’ strategies for the remainder of deep mined coal did not extend beyond five years, even at the biggest collieries. The Independent in Nov. of last year announced "UK Coal may close its 13 deep mines threatening more than 6,300 jobs it revealed yesterday". Nothing has been done to build a strategy to meet this final threat to our existence, Prince Of Wales will close in Sept. and a number of others will go down like dominoes, at the same time we have this bazaar side show which simply robs us of our reputation for being able to fight and our members ability to do so.
Some will find it hard to believe that a man so respected, indeed loved by the rank and file members during our great struggle of 84/5 should have come to this kind of level.
Nigel Pearse begged Arthur to withdraw these silly proposals, for the sake of Arthur’s reputation and that of the Union. He refused, and that was the worse mistake in Arthur’s career in our view. History will tend to remember all this rubbish rather than the fine upstanding man he was in 84/5 and that is truely sad.
Frank Cave
We are sorry to report the death of Frank Cave the General Secretary of the Yorkshire Area of the NUM, and Vice President of the NUM nationally. The funeral for Frank was held at the Church of St Laurence on Monday 21 Jan. The sad occasion seen a mass of former leaders and well known activist from the NUM. Many of his comrades from other National Unions among them National Unions and leaders of international Unions turned out to show their respects. Frank had been a great friend of the Hatfield miners and its officials and many of our current and former officials turned out to say farewell. The last couple of years have seen Frank wracked with pain and enduring painful operations in a fight against cancer of the brain, despite this he heroically fought on and held his position as chair of many stormy meetings. Frank was a blunt straight talking man, he fired from the shoulder and looked you straight in the eye, he could make your blood curl in an argument, then sit down with you for a pint afterwards and never breath a word of the earlier polemic. He fought his corner as President of Socialist Labour Party and had many a heated debate on strategy and principles in the workers movement both here and abroad. Despite this he never let political differences and strategies get in the way of friendship and comradeship, would that others who have praised Frank could follow in his example in this way. We will miss Frank, his ready laugh, his sense of pit humour, his rough and tumble chairman style, his good company which many of us would seek out as a preference. S'lang Frank lad, you've caught the early draw, but we'll not be lang behind ye.
Tragic Death of our fellow Hatfield Miner Johnny Burns.
The miners of Hatfield were shocked to a man at the discovery of Johnny Burns body, having died underground at the pit, it seems from a heart attack. Johnny was born in Dunscroft and lived in the Oval since he was 7 years old. Everybody knew him, he had played football and grew up with his many mates, then they all went down Hatfield pit together as soon as they left school. A natural ‘pillocker’ a shift didn't last long with Johnny’s humour to speed the day along. He stuck with the Colliery through thick and thin and until recently had flogged his guts out on the coal face since being a lad. Recently he admitted to finding the long shifts at the face too much for him and had gone on the staple pit. The whole community was devastated by the news, and his family are deeply upset, his wife was his childhood sweetheart and they had been together since schooldays. Johnny was never a tub thumping militant but he always paid his Union dues and despite de-recognition by the private owners and the loss of power by the local branch he stuck to the Union to the end, if ever the chips were down Johnny was out with everyone else and never returned till the branch said it was OK to. Johnny will be greatly missed as was witnessed by the truly massive turnout from the pit and the village and the club at his funeral. The grief displayed by his children and grandchildren was most harrowing and upsetting and we extent our deepest sympathy at their loss . A great character has gone from this community and we will be all the poorer for it.
DD
Dave Douglass adds his thoughts on the VWF tests
The problem is, the claim for common law damages against the NCB etc. is based upon a medical examination taken in relation to work history and exposure to the offending tools. It is possible to develop a form of VWF/CTS without being exposed to vibration tools of the proscribed type. Where you have the condition and the correct degree of exposure you should be successful with your claim. However the DSS has a different criteria. They are not simply going from a medical exam and work history but a set of definitions laid down in the regulations. These regulations declare, choose what the medical facts are, for purposes of VWF the minimum affect must be all three fingers of both hands down to at least the second knuckle ,both sides, summer and winter, and that this has occurred while using one of the list of proscribed tools. This is different than common law requirement. Indeed the production of the specialist medical report which confirms for common law purposes the existence of VWF, can and often is used as fatal evidence against a claim for PDA11 (VWF) for DSS purposes. For example the report might illustrate only the tips of fingers affected or perhaps two, right down to the last knuckle, or affected only in winter. All of which is fine for the Coal Board claim but fatal to the DSS claim. The thing to do, is to ensure nobody applies to the DSS for a VWF claim unless they talk to a Union or Advice Centre such as The Mining Communities Advice Centre who specialise in this field. Solicitors rarely if ever understand DSS law.
Claim for industrial injuries benefit
A short while ago, Dave Dufton wrote a message in the Miners Advice Guestbook. He told us of his campaign for miners with VWF to get the pension from the DWP.
This is his Guestbook entry in full:
This is a great site for miners -&- ex miners. please continue with this
great site. i'm currently running a campaign against the government for
recognition for miners with VWF to get the pension from the DWP. mineworkers
-&- ex mineworkers are not being allowed to put forward medical evidence
they've received from the DTI screening program, because the medical they've
been tested for is hand arm vibration syndrome -&- the test the DWP carries
out is, VWF. all of the DWP doctors know that HAVS is a more severe form
of VWF, but are tied by legislation. it would be great if my details could
be bannered on your web site, so that all of the miners who are going
through the same problems, could contact me for more information -&- were
i'm upto at this present time. the more people who get on the band waggon,
the better. i look forward to your reply. best regards, dave dufton. [email protected]
Today I received an e-mail from Allan Price of South Wales. He has been in communication with Dave Dufton and has asked me to post this e-mail on our site:
hi allan,
the commissioner in london, has ruled that the dss must use the medical
information provided by the british coal insurers (irisc). this means
allan, that should you have been turned down by the dss for the vwf industrial
injuries disablement benefit. then you can now put in a new claim, & the
doctor who examines you, must take into account the neurological effects
in your hands. these would be things like, pins & needles, numbness, dropping
every day objects, because you have no feeling in your fingers etc. if
your not to sure about this information allan. then give me a call on
xxxxxxx. I look forward to hearing from you very soon. could you also
do your bit at your end. and let your MP know the latest ruling & ask
him to give is full support to the mining mp's working group, at the house
of commons. the mp he needs to speak to is, bill etherington mp (sunderland
north). bill is the secretary of this working group & of whom i've been
in direct contact with. let your mates know & get bombarding your local
benefits agency with new claims.
as always, solidarity to the working class man & woman.
dave
Prince of Wales Colliery to close
UK Coal have announced that the Prince of Wales Colliery will close later this year, with the loss of over 500 jobs. Alec Galloway, managing director of UK Coal's deep mines, has told the press that the company are determined to find alternative work for their skilled workforce.
Britain's oldest operating coal mine, the history of the colliery goes back to 1860, was taken over by RJB Mining in 1995
Production at the pit is expected to end in September, though salvage operations will carry on for a further two months.
Prince of Wales Colliery threatened with closure
Prince of Wales colliery under review. Union leaders at POW colliery have been informed by UK Coal that the colliery is to be the subject of "an urgent review" The mine, which employs 500 people and is situated near Pontefract in West Yorkshire, could be the first of many of UK Coal's mines to face possible closure. Just last month UK Coal, previously owned by Sir Richard Budge and then known as RJB Mining, issued a warning that profits were under threat and a review of it's mines was essential.
However, it is believed that the problems at Prince of Wales colliery are geological rather than economic.
Preview of Channel 4’s Battle Of Orgeave,
Sheffield Showroom Cinema
16 Nov., 7pm.
A packed screen 3 audience seen the first public showing of Channel 4’s reconstruction and histo-documentary of the Battle Of Orgeave. The technique fuses actual footage of the time with econstructed footage
. The effect is dramatic, though less bloody in visual terms. The screening was full of former miners and participants in the actual events and reconstructed events, it was never short of noisy audience participation. Strong words for Thatcher and the Nottingham scabs come across loud and clear in a programme set to revive flagging memories in the communities.
Dave Douglass provides the commentary and analysis of events, this is likely to prove unpopular in circles unused to criticism of the strategy and alternatives. Dramatic commentary comes from a bloke who is both a former miner though a former cop at the Battle, what he has to say must have taken guts to admit to.
Watch out for the programme being scheduled, we don't know when yet. The programme has it's London preview on Monday 19 November.
Pickets and police clash - Still taken from the documentary (80k)
No Role for Coal
(This report appeared in The Yorkshire Post's Online News)
Britain 'to pull plug on coal industry' stated the first line of this disturbing report.
The article goes went to tell us:
Tony Blair's government is threatening to press ahead with ditching vital
aid to British coal mines amid fears that ministers will soon announce
a major boost for nuclear power. Now there are deep concerns that the
Government is finally consigning the coal industry to history and risking
thousands of jobs across Yorkshire alone.
Labour MPs have also voiced worries that ministers have failed to realise
the full implications of the September 11 terrorist outrage and the need
to preserve the country's "indigenous" energy reserves. But Yorkshire
MPs Kevin Hughes and John Grogan, both with pits in their constituencies,
last night vowed to fight to save the industry.
Doncaster North MP Mr Hughes, who has this summer successfully battled
to rescue Hatfield pit, said last night: "It's crucial that the Government
continue to support the British coal-mining industry � not just to secure
jobs but to ensure this country has a secure energy supply for the long-term."
At the moment the article and it's updates can be read at The
Yorkshire Post's Online News web site
SURPRISINGLY GENEROUS DTI DECISION
(Please excuse the shouting (capitals), this how I received this from
Dave)
GIVEN THAT THE DTI HAVE NOT EXACTLY BEEN SANTECLAUS SO FAR AS MINERS CLAIMS ARE CONCERNED WE ARE SHOCKED SPEECHLESS BY THEIR DECISION TO ALLOW CLAIMS FOR VWF TO BE MADE ON BEHALF OF FORMER MINERS WHO ARE NOW DECEASED . THAT'S RIGHT, IF YOUR DAD OR GRANDDAD WORKED AFTER 1975 WITH VIBRATION TOOLS, PROBABLY AS A FACE OR HEADING WORKING, BUT DIED BEFORE HE GOT TO CLAIM, YOU OR ANOTHER RELATIVE CAN CLAIM ON HIS BEHALF ! CHECK WITH DAVE DOUGLASS AT THE MINERS ADVICE CENTRE (01302 841 365) FOR MORE DETAILS AND A CLAIM.
MINERS WHO DIED WITH LUNG RELATED CONDITIONS OR WHO HAD LUNG RELATED CONDITIONS BEFORE THEY DIED EVEN IF THEY DIDN'T DIE FROM IT, CAN ALSO HAVE CLAIMS SUBMITTED ON THEIR BEHALF BY RELATIVES. SEE DAVE.
Electrifying news from Hatfield Colliery
It is understood Richard Budge wants to feed into the national grid and supply electricity from a new power station to be situated at Hatfield Colliery.
This report appeared in the Financial Times this week......
Hatfield Colliery set for power station
Financial Times 13/10/01 13/10/2001 09:00:00
Richard Budge, who recently rescued Yorkshire's Hatfield Colliery, has
confirmed that he is to build a 500 megawatt coal-fired power station
next to the pit.
In the meantime, the Union is hoping to establish recognition soon and urges everyone signing on at the pit to join the Union. Contact Dave Douglass for more info.
JUSTICE FOR MARK BARNSLEY
CAMPAIGN BULLETIN-AUTUMN 2001
The Struggle for Justice Goes On As Mark Enters His 8th Year of Wrongful Imprisonment.
In our last bulletin (early summer), the Justice for Mark Barnsley Campaign
announced that we'd be holding a demonstration outside the Home Office
in London on June 8th, the 7th anniversary of the Pomona Incident.
The demonstration coincided with the inauguration of the new government
and was therefore a chance to let the incoming Home Secretary David Blunkett
know that our demand for justice for Mark would haunt him as it has his
predecessors. Over 50 people with banners and placards attended, including
supporters from the Satpal Ram Campaign and the Justice for Harry
Stanley Campaign and after a noisy demo outside the Home Office, we marched
to Downing Street. Anyone who wants an insight into the extent of media
self-censorship in the UK should note that the press pack outside Downing
Street asked the police to move us on becasue we were making too much
noise and interfereing with their filming of the door of number 10! Nevertheless
we made our point and would like to thank everyone who showed their support
on the day, particularly those of you who travelled from outside London
to show solidarity with Mark as he entered his 8th year of wrongful imprisonment.
As in previous years, on June 8th supporters overseas also showed their
solidarity with Mark's struggle for justice. In Spain for example, a group
of about 30 people gathered in front of the British embassy in Madrid
with banners demanding 'Justicia para Mark Barnsley'. Despite a heavy
police presence, including a helicopter hovering above, some people tried
to throw
leaflets inside the embassy. Later the picket moved to a busy train station
in Madrid where passersby were told about Marks' situation. In Luxembourg
a solidarity concert was held in support of Mark. Information leaflets
were
handed out and people discussed his case between the bands. Similarly
in Malta a well-known local band dedicated their concert to Mark's struggle,
followed by coverage in their national press. All over the world people
were
also busy sending faxes, e-mails and letters to the British government
demmanding justice for Mark Barnsley.
The Protests Continue.
On July 5th, Determined to let Blunkett (a Sheffield MP) know that the
injustice done to Mark (a Sheffield man) would not be forgotten, supporters
in London picketed Blunkett's speech to the National Probation Service
Conference. Blunkett's staff and the conference centre management showed
their commitment to fredom of speech by trying to get the police to move
us
on before Blunkett arrived. We refused to leave and eventually it dawned
on Blunkett's PA that footage of demonstrators being bundled into police
vans outisde his first big speech wouldnt do his image any good and he
was forced
to walk past the demonstration.
MARK MOVED TO HMP WHITEMOOR.
On 5th of October Mark Barnsley was moved to High Security, Whitemoor
prison in Cambridgeshire. His new address is:Mark Barnsley WA2897 - HMP
Whitemoor, Longhill Road, March, Cambs, PE15 OPR, England.
As soon as we have further information about Mark's current situation
we will let you know.
Those of you with e-mail/internet access will have been informed over recent months about some of the following developments in Mark's situation.
The victim of a gross miscarriage of justice, Mark has steadfastly refused to collaborate with the system since his wrongful imprisonment over 7 years ago. Instead of doing prison work he has spent his time constructively, working on the campaign to overturn his conviction and clear his name, supporting other prisoners and doing education classes when possible.
According to the prison service, the reason prisoners are given work
is so that they can learn a trade as part of their rehabilitation. In
theory, increasing their chances of getting a job upon release. At Wakefield
Prison however, prisoners either make prison uniforms or do extremely
tedious packing work for a private company based in South Yorkshire called
Hepworth
Building Products. In return for working 25 hours per week they are paid
from nothing to £5 (yes that's per week). Even with bonuses, prisoners
are paid a maximum wage which is less than 10% of the minimum wage paid
to workers on the outside. No wonder private companies are eager to exploit
this captive workforce.
In July, Mark was told he was being allocated to the prison workshop.
Knowing that he would refuse to work on principal and therefore face a
charge and segregation, the campaign urged supporters to protest to the
prison authorities over their practice of forced labour. We also urged
people to protest to the private company which exploits cheap labour at
HMP
Wakefield.
By Friday 3rd of August, as International support for the protests increased,
a number of Mark's supporters took the initiative by deciding to take
a more direct form of action to highlight his situation. They invaded
and shut down Hepworth Building Products site in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
About 30 people invaded the site - locking the main gates and disrupting
the
lunchtime shift-change. Quickly knocking up banners and some leaflets
on Hepworth's copier to distribute to workers with details of the company's
exploits. The action disrupted the warehouse and offices for about 2 hours.
The fire brigade were called to cut through the locks on the gates but
turned around and departed to cheers after it was explained to them what
the
protest was about. According to one of those involved: "It was only
a small action, but considering it was relatively spontaneous it was a
great success. There were no arrests, the workers were mostly supportive
and seemed to know nothing of their company's involvement in prison labour."
Another participant says: "Outside we waited in the pissing rain
with our soaking banners for the police to cut the locks, which were luckily
too sturdy... some children came over with warm clothes to lend us. The
passers-by; children and adults; and the workers; were incredibly sympathetic.
The fire brigade were summoned by the police and on arrival, we talked
to them about taking a role in political activity. The firefighters then
decided they couldnt obey police orders without their area manager being
there. Finally the locks were blowtorched off by the company itself. We
cheered the firebrigade for not scabbing as they drove off waving, left
the childrens' clothes,and left with no arrests."
Shortly after the occupation of Hepworths, Mark was segregated at HMP Wakefield for "refusing to work". Later on the same day he was suddenly given a Good Order And Discipline (GOAD) notice saying he was "Under investigation for activities likely to undermine the good order of HMP Wakefield" and would be held in segregation for 28 days. By coincidence (?) an article/letter co-signed by Mark had just been published in the radical newspaper FRFI! two days before (see opposite page). The prison would give no further details about Mark's segregation, despite letters from his legal team. A protest picket was quickly organised by the campaign outside the Home Office in London.
By mid-August, after spending 2 weeks in Wakefield prisons' Segregation Unit, Mark was suddenly moved to the Segregation Unit at nearby HMP Leeds where he remained for a further 7 weeks until his latest move to HMP Whitemoor.
Prisoners in Britain call for Solidarity Action with Turkish Hunger
Strikers.
On 30th June, 22 year old Zehra Kulaksic died following 221 days without
solid food. She was the fifth person to die on the hunger-strike being
staged by TAYAD (the Association of Families and Friends of Political
Prisoners) in solidarity with Turkish political prisoners. By 11th of
September the total of those who have either died on the death-fast or
were murdered by the Turkish State during its vicious onslaught against
protesting prisoners on 19 December 2000 rose to 64. The
prisoners are continuing their protest against the regime's attempts to
destroy them by confining them to isolation cells in the new repressive
F-type prisons. Prisoners across Europe (Germany, Holland, France, Austria,
Greece, Belgium, Spain, France, Ireland...) are increasingly showing their
solidarity with the on-going struggle of the Turkish prisoners. At the
end
of June 2001, Mark Barnsley (then at HMP Wakefield) and John Bowden (HMP
Bristol) issued the following statement in support of the prisoners' struggle
in Turkey :
Fellow prisoners,
Many of you will be following the courageous life and death struggle currently
taking place in the Turkish prisons. In the F.I.E.S. isolation units of
Spain (equivalent to our CSC units) prisoners have recently launched an
initiative in support of the Turkish prison struggle and in support of
their own 3 demands. This initiative, which is supported by risoners in
France, Greece and by Basque and Kurdish prisoners, is in the form of
a hunger protest on the first Saturday of each month. The three
demands of the F.I.E.S. prisoners are as follows:
1. An end to the F.I.E.S. units.
2. An end to 'dispersion', whereby prisoners are moved away from their
families.
3. The release of all terminally ill prisoners, and those who have spent
more than 20 years in prison because of their political beliefs and militant
attitude.
In solidarity with our comrades in the Turkish prisons and those fighting
for justice throughout the world, we propose the launch of an initiative
along the same lines as the Spanish prisoners - A food strike on the first
Saturday of every month. Since the Whitemoor and Parkhurst escapes of
1994 and 1995 there has been a concerted attempt to crush the British
prison struggle once and for all, a war of attrition the State has all
but won. By making this simple act of solidarity we are taking the first
step towards renewing the struggle and asserting our humanity and our
defiance. Like the F.I.E.S. prisoners we are proposing 3 reasonable and
achievable demands of our own:
1. A minimum of one hour's daily exercise in the open air - It is appalling
that at a time when prisoners are once again being locked 2 and 3 to a
cell, the statutory allowance of daily exercise has been reduced to only
half an hour.
2. The right of all prisoners to wear their own clothes - Twenty years
after
Bobby Sands and his comrades died on hunger-strike, the right of prisoners
to wear their own clothes is still not enshrined in the prison rules.
Because of this, governors regard the wearing of civilian clothes as a
'privilege' that can be withdrawn at any time. This is increasingly happening
with prisoners placed on 'basic'.
3. The abolition of compulsory prison work - We are currently seeing the
growing exploitation of prisoners' labour by private companies and by
the State. If prisoners choose to work in return for remuneration they
should have that choice, but compulsory work is nothing less than slavery.
These are the three demands that we propose. We ask that all militant
prisoners, all those who have not been crushed by State repression, all
those not bought off by the arse-lickers charter of the 'Incentives and
Earned Privileges Scheme', all those who have an instinct for solidarity
and the courage to stand up against oppression support this proposal.
Our numbers may be few but they have the potential to grow. Spread the
word.
Support the protest. The fightback starts here.
Mark Barnsley
John Bowden
Just 2 days after the above statement was published in Fight Racism, Fight Imperialism! (FRFI!), Mark was put in segregation at Wakefield Prison (see above).
New Campaign Support Group in South Yorkshire.
In July, campaign supporters in South Yorkshire organised a public meeting
in Rotherham. A presentation of Mark's case was given and the organising
of regular campaign activities discussed. Most people at the meeting seemed
willing to get involved in different aspects of the campaign. Since the
meeting information stalls have been held in Sheffield city centre and
other local venues and due to the interest from the public, are set to
become a regular event. The campaign had an information stall at the Mark
Thomas gig in Sheffield on October 2nd. Future South Yorkshire campaign
meetings are to be held monthly. Justice for Mark Barnsley South Yorkshire
can be contacted by e-mail at: [email protected]
or via the campaign postal address in Huddersfield.
Announcing a New Justice for Mark Barnsley Book. We are now proud to anounce
that our new 92 page book 'In the Hands of the Enemy : Mark Barnsley's
Struggle for Justice' is now available. The book is a fully illustrated
collection of writings by Mark, his family and a broad range of his supporters
and fellow prisoners. Designed to give the reader a fuller understanding
of Mark's case and his long campaign for justice, the many varied articles
also give valuable insight into miscarriages of justice, the prison system,
Mark's long history of political activism and his connection to the wider
struggle for justice. This book is powerful reading.
IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY
Mark Barnsley's Struggle for Justice With an Introduction by former Political
Prisoner John Barker
Published by Justice For Mark Barnsley. Available October 2001. Paperback,
92 pages, Illustrated.£6 (includes post & packing). Folks on
our mailing list see below.
ISBN: 1-873605-89-7
"Mark Barnsley is one of Britain's 'secret' political prisoners,
a hostage of the State. In 1994 he was attacked by 15 middle-class students,
and ended up sentenced to 12 years in prison for supposedly attacking
them. This was no 'accidental' miscarriage of justice, but a calculated
move by the British State to 'take out' a political activist, a long standing
thorn in their
side. In The Hands Of The Enemy takes over where Beaten Up, Fitted Up,
Locked Up, the first Justice for Mark Barnsley pamphlet, left off. Using
articles written by friends, comrades, fellow-prisoners, and by Mark himself,
In The Hands Of The Enemy tells the story of a political prisoner described
by Prisons Minister Paul Boateng as "a major ringleader for prisoners
unrest", and exposes the depths that the State will go to to deal
with it's enemies. If, no matter how light-heartedly, you've ever classed
yourself as an enemy of the State, you should read this before it's too
late, and you too find yourself In The Hands Of The Enemy. " - From
the back cover.
"This book will arouse indignation against a system which can treat ordinary people in such a way. It will also inspire others to take up the campaign for justice, not only for Mark Barnsley, but for victims of miscarriages of justice everywhere." Direct Action , Autumn 2001.
"The critical articles on what prison conditions are - and what
our rulers are planning for them to be - mean this book is indispensable
for anyone who believes in a freer or fairer society. Anyone who believes
in revolutionary change would learn a lot from this book: this is not
just a warning of what the state can (and will) do, but also an inspiring
account of revolutionary
principles in action." Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library.
"Each day I'm held within the clutches of a thousand tyrants, big
and small, who continue to do everything they can to break me. The abuses
that I am subjected to should be condemned, and loudly, but ultimately
they will make no difference, they will certainly never achieve their
aim of bringing me to my knees. I remain defiant, and will continue to
fight for justice until my
dying breath." Mark Barnsley, Wakefield Prison.
Support Mark's Campaign by calling your local bookshop/library and asking them to stock In The Hands Of The Enemy. Order In The Hands Of The Enemy by post direct from Justice for Mark Barnsley. Please make cheques/Postal Orders payable to: 'Justice for Mark Barnsley'.
Supporters of the campaign, currently on our mailing list, can order
the book directly from us at the cheaper price of £5 per copy (Orders
from outside Europe add £1 for postage). We realise that not everyone
has money to spend on books, so why not pop down to your local library
and ask if they'll stock the new book (or our first pamphlet - Beaten
up, Fitted Up,
Locked Up) that way more people will get to read it.
More good news! The compilation music CD 'One Law For Them, Another Law For Us' is due to be pressed. The CD will be sold to raise much needed funds for the campaign. Not for the feint hearted, it will contain 23 blistering tracks of punk rock, ska, Oi! and folk music.
UPCOMING EVENTS
London Supporters Meeting
24th October - 7.30pm
Lucas Arms
Grays Inn Road - Kingscross.
All supporters in the London area welcomed.
YOU CAN CONTACT THE CAMPAIGN AT THE FOLLOWING:
Write to: Justice for Mark Barnsley - PO Box 381, Huddersfield, HD13XX.
J.f.M.B. (South Yorkshire) c/o above or e-mail: [email protected]
J.f.M.B. (London) Tel: 07944 522001
J.f.M.B. (Ireland) have a NEW ADDRESS - PO Box 1981, Derry, Ireland.
E-mail: [email protected]
Visit the campaign web site at: http://www.freemarkbarnsley.com
You can write to Mark directly at: Mark Barnsley WA2897- HMP Whitemoor,
Longhill Road, March, Cambs, PE15 OPR, England. If possible please enclose
an SAE and a few sheets of paper so that he can reply
Vibration white finger and the "goal posts which have moved secretly in the night"
This week one of the former Hatfield Miners came to the Mining Communities Advice Centre to check out the results of his Test Centre medical report. Having been a face and heading worker for 13 years during which time he used vibration tools intensely drilling, and using jack hammers, and knowing the way his hands are badly affected, he couldn't understand the relatively low score of 2V on the Vascular staging. After checking his score against those of other men tested earlier I discovered a remarkable thing. The score has been changed, to make it more difficult. Up until Aug. last year his score would have got him 3V, this year with exactly the same amount of exposure and damage it only gets him a 2V.
As I explained to him :-
The reason why you only got 2V is they, whoever they actually are have
changed the rules. If you had had this test result same time last year,
with exactly the same results you would have had a 3V. For some highly
secret and unusual reason I do not understand up to Aug. last year the
score said 2V " ...score of 5-12" - "3V score of 13-24".
As of Aug. this year it says 2V "Score of 5-16 - "3V Score of 18 or more"
As far as I can see this has been done without any consultation with the claimants, certainly not the NUM who represent 90% of all miners and former miners in Britain. What is worse it has been done on the sly, without any publicity, "behind the backs" of the victims of this terrible disease it could be said.
This is part of a news report from Ananova concerning Hatfield Main colliery
'King Coal' takes over colliery
Work at a coal mine is to resume after the man
once dubbed King Coal was granted permission to take it over.
Richard Budge's new company, Coalpower, will
resume mining from Monday at the Hatfield Colliery in South Yorkshire.
Production at the pit was halted in August
when the management team which had bought out the colliery in 1994 went
into liquidation.
Mr Budge says he will spend £5 million
bringing the mine back into production with an expected workforce of about
200.
Please vist the link below for the full report.
Ananova : http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_416708.html?menu=
ROSSINGTON COLLIERY, DONCASTER
7 WEEKS STILL ON STRIKE.
The bitter dispute at Rossington enters its 7th week of strike, although
of course they were on overtime ban for nearly two years before that.
The strike has been contained at Rossington although many in the mines
believe the whole issue is a national one, the Union considers itself
hog-tied by current legislation which bans so called ‘secondary action’.
Latest move by management is to circulate every man at the pit and urge
them to break the strike, either vote NO to a ballot aimed at renewing
the 8 week immunity from dismissal which the current law provides, or
else just scab. It is a familiar letter we have seen many time before
in our history. They claim the dispute has lost on £0.5M ,the Unions
claim (for an Equitable bonus scheme in line with most other collieries)
would cost £25,000 per week , that the production they require from
the pit is 25,000 tonnes per week. That they are prepared to change the
bonus system but not increase the total figures. They also challenge the
Unions claim that a second ballot would cover the men from dismissal.
The Unions letter of response unfortunately will not reproduce well enough
to print verbatim, but is an excellent riposte. "..leading Employment
Law expert John Hendy QC has provided advice in relations to s.238A Trade
Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation Act) 1992, which is a section
inserted by the Employment Relations Act 1999 which gives unfair dismissal
protection to those on official industrial action for a period of 8 weeks.
A strike may be in breach of contract and could result in in dismissal
- but "Dear Colleague" letter (the management's letter ) is
carefully worded not to include reference to the fact that dismissal for
taking protected industrial action is automatically unfair for 8 weeks
from the start of any protected industrial action....no doubt he will
know that the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal is now £51,700."
The response goes on to prove that the figures used by the Union come
from UK Coal, that all in all the losses are £752,500 per week.
They also point out that despite the dire financial situation allegedly
existing at the colliery UK Coal have just paid out a 6 month dividend
to shareholders of £7.3 million "more than enough to pay the
bonus for over 20 years !" "UK COAL SHOULD FIRST REWARD THOSE
WHOSE LABOUR PRODUCES THE GOODS."
"They say, "please consider your position carefully"-to
right mate-consider what this bunch would do if we give up with nothing.
There is already a project looking at round the clock working reducing
wages etc."
The final reference is to new total reorganisation of the UK Coal shift
system and an attack upon every one of their miners at every pit. They
are looking for 24 hour round the clock coaling and reduction of costs
and expenditure, obviously this will not be the coal owners and the shareholders,
but the men whose sweat (and often blood) produce the fortunes in the
first place. This factor could just be the issue that finally brings this
issue to a head, and cements the whole UK workforce into national strike
action. This has been long waited for by the long suffering men at Rossington.
Meantime efforts to save neighbouring Hatfield Colliery continue. Mr Richard
Budge the former Director of RJB Mining (Now UK Coal) is the preferred
bidder for Hatfield Colliery. He has until the 6 /Oct. to get the money
together for his buy out.
Obviously we take no joy in having to sell our labour to anyone, but where
the alternative was kicking our clogs on the street for the rest of our
lives, we welcome the chance to maintain our living standards. Actually
Mr Budge has promised a salary somewhat more than that previously earned
under the now bankrupt Hatfield Coal Company. He has also promised a more
humane shift system, including no weekend coaling, and Union recognition.
Meantime an objection from one of the other prospective buyers ( ronroe
) has been received. We do not know the nature of the objection but considering
their plan was to stop production at Hatfield and go for total development,
which would involve only employment of 30 or 40 men, probably contractors
and not local Hatfield men, instead of re-engagement of the total 200
plus working force we know which plan is better for us.
Both Branches are appealing for financial support for their efforts:-
Rossington Branch Fund, c/o 7 Holmes Carr Crescent, Rossington, Doncaster
DN11OQD.
Hatfield Main Branch Fund, c/o 16 Abbeyfield Road, Dunscroft, Doncaster
DN74AF.
HATFIELD UPDATE 13/09/01
COAL POWER NOW HAS HAD ITS BID ACCEPTED (That's Richard Budge’s new operation) he is now putting together the financial means to take over the operation and has until Oct. 5th to do so. Former Hatfield miners are currently applying for their Jobs back and the NUM has written asking for formal talks on Union recognition although Richard Budge himself has stated he "sees no problem" with it. Meantime supporters of our campaign are still invited to send financial assistance to the branch Fund as expenditure is still ongoing and no other sources of income are available. We are well down the path of saving the colliery, but have not yet arrived.
SUDDEN KNOCK BACK ON PIT WOMEN’S EQUAL VALUE CLAIMS.
Pit folk will recall that a settlement was achieved back in April 9 2001 for all canteen women and cleaners whose equal value claims had been registered with the Employment Tribunal.
There was considerable dismay among many former pit women in these roles who were in the relevant employment at the relevant time and 100% NUM members as to why their claims had not apparently been registered, as well as those who hadn't for one reason or another not made a claim.
Peter Hain the then Energy Minister had agreed that although he had no legal duty to settle these claims, there was some moral obligation to do so, and had indicated to the NUM that settlement on the basis of ex-gratia payments could be made when the full extent of the problem had been reviewed. Women wishing to be so reviewed and there were apparently hundreds of them registered their claims with the NUM .
Months down the line, a new Government, a new Energy Minister and the NUM is told that they cannot make any such settlements to these women. Arthur has written one of his "astonished" letters to Mr Wilson and circulated the NUM with the news. All women so affected are encouraged to write to the energy minister and let him know what they think of his decision
Dave Murdock,
Doncaster COSA Official Wins Major Case Against NUM
It seems strange but part of the ongoing internecine warfare which has been ongoing in the Union for some time, occasionally breaks to the surface. This very bitter case has (or this part of this case) now been resolved in favour of Mr Murdock a regional official of COSA the NUM's white collar section. Mr Murdock had been, indeed is, an Area Official of COSA since 1985, well known for his left wing politics in a right wing section of the Union, his Scottishness and bushy eyebrows.
All of the questions have not been resolved by the court case which we believe took place at Sheffield County Court, but this much has. In 1994 Dave agreed to a salary reduction of almost 30% in order to assist the Unions financial problems, he also decided to come out of the Union’s pension scheme. Now on the face of it that seems a very odd thing for anyone to do doesn't it ? Did any other official make such a magnanimous offer ?
Nobody else seems to find that bit odd. Never mind, he goes further in July 1998 he suggests his salary be suspended altogether, until the Union got its finances sorted out.
By November 1998 he requests that his salary be reinstated.
This started a dispute as to who, or which part of the Union should actually pay his salary. Subsequently they decided the Union shouldn't pay him anything at all ! That they were not responsible for his salary.
Not surprisingly Dave sued the Union, firstly in an effort to get the original salary restored but the Court through that out, saying he had voluntarily agreed a reduction. But agreed the lower salary must be paid back to the date of suspension. Most of the costs were granted against the Union and as a supplement a car allowance (which I thought we had abolished years ago) was to be paid .
1-0 to Dave
Now there is also a very acrimonious internal battle going on about Dave’s alleged involvement with the Yorkshire Compensation Recovery Unit, which operated from the back offices of COSA. There is allegedly a close involvement between COSA (Doncaster) and this private firm, which would be against the interests of the Union.
Dave had been summoned before the Disciplinary Committee of the NEC, and despite his non attendance because of ill health, was expelled ! Dave has the right to appeal to the next level of appeal, but may instead seek a legal avenue.
2-0 The NEC
MEANTIME BACK IN THE NORTH EAST
It seems our comrades back up North have offended someone also and a further very bitter internecine bout of fighting is due on the cards with more disciplinary hearings and appeals. Eeh whey, a mind the time when we only fought the other side
Hatfield Main News Update
Result of Preferred Bidder Due To Be Announced Wednesday 12 Noon. Press
Conference at Hatfield Colliery. This is not the end though, the bidder
has actually to put together the package and get the backing. There is
a wee way ti gaan yet. Meantime whoever the buyer is will be invited to
the forthcoming NUM meeting at The Fox next Saturday 12 Noon.
Watch this space. In the meantime we are still urgently seeking funds
to the Hatfield Main NUM Branch Fund to allow us to carry on and keep
men together and IN THE UNION.
Update on Hatfield Pit Closure Struggle
Three potential buyers assess the Hatfield Prospect at present, which is hopeful. This follows an advert placed by DTI in the Financial Times. The final date for government funding keeping the colliery open expires on Sept. 15th so the next two weeks are crucial.
Meantime the branch funds are exhausted and the local officials have been funding the campaign from their own pockets which cannot continue.
To assist the branch at this time an appeal is hereby launched to raise financial aid to Hatfield Main NUM Branch Fund.
Cheques should be made out to the Hatfield Main NUM Branch and sent to the Secretary at 16, Abbeyfield Road, Dunscroft , Doncaster DN74AF obviously time is of the essence.
Weekly Worker 396 Thursday August 23 2001
Letters
Genoa condemnation
While the Pinochet-style repression in Genoa has provoked outrage throughout
Europe and the world, the CPGB seems more intent on faulting the black
bloc anarchists than denouncing Berlusconi and the G8.
It is true that any serious Marxist would want to point out, as you do, that tactics like trashing shops and picking fights with vastly more powerful police are no substitute for mass action by the working class, and will end up hurting protesters more than their enemies. Such criticisms, however, should be presented as differences among revolutionaries over the most effective methods of fighting our mutual enemy, the capitalist state; they should not lend themselves to being confused with the indignation of liberals and social democrats, who abhor the ‘violence’ of the black bloc out of reverence for the existing order and its rules.
The July 26 Weekly Worker, however, fails to make clear the standpoint from which it opposes the anarchists. Tina Becker takes the Socialist Alliance and Workers Power to task for merely criticising - as opposed to condemning - the black bloc. Now ‘condemnation’ is a term of moral disapproval, suitable for enemies, not for fellow revolutionaries with whom one disagrees. When anyone goes beyond the bounds of bourgeois legality, it is to be expected that professional opinion-makers will attempt to split the movement by pressurising more ‘moderate’ elements to dissociate themselves from the ‘lawbreakers’: ie, to ‘condemn’ them. WP and the SA were right in their refusal to employ any language that could be construed as succumbing to this pressure, whatever the other defects of their attitude towards Genoa.
The fact that the black bloc may have been heavily infiltrated by the police, or that their tactics may lend themselves to infiltration, makes no essential difference. Agents provocateurs have always been present in our midst, but anarchists act provocatively, or stupidly, not chiefly because government agents dupe them into it, but because they are young, marginalised and enraged.
The ambiguity of your stance is even more serious in the obituary for Carlo Giuliani, the young anarchist murdered by the Italian police. You write: “As a result of the rightwing-fascist coalition government’s hard-line attitude to ‘subversives’ coming to demonstrate in Genoa and the irresponsibility and provocative behaviour of the anarchists, Carlo has been lost to the cause of revolution and human liberation” (emphasis added). It’s hard to read this sentence as meaning anything but the equal apportionment of blame to the Italian state and the anarchists for Giuliani’s death.
There can be no such moral equivalence. Carlo Giuliani and his comrades acted out of justified anger against the ravages of capitalism in its current neo-liberal version. The Italian police were defending the ravagers. Criticism that does not situate itself in regard to this fundamental distinction leaves itself open to suspicion.
Jim Cullen
New York
Cowardly pacifists
Under the guise of a polemic against Worker Power, Mark Fischer launches
a frontal attack on the direct action tactics used by the anti-capitalist
movement in Seattle, Prague, Gothenburg, Genoa and elsewhere (‘Workers
Power’s anarchist wobble’, July 26). In doing this he reveals
how rightist the CPGB is.
He attacks WP’s arguments for properly organised defence squads if demonstrations are to achieve their aim of disrupting the imperialists’ summits: “The notion that we should set as an aim of our protests full-scale confrontations with the armed might of the state’s paramilitary forces is insane.” His alternative? “Rather than potential massacres, the workers’ movement should organise mass peaceful demonstrations ...” (his emphasis).
In this Mark Fischer and the CPGB are in complete agreement with the reformist leaders of the workers’ movement; of Rifondazione Comunista, the CGIL, the Democratic Left, as well as the Greens and NGOs - all of whom wanted symbolic peaceful protests. The anti-capitalist youth, on the other hand, want to stop these summits ‘by any means necessary’. Why? Because they know it’s where the imperialists complete their plans to exploit, and drive into abject poverty, the masses of Indonesia, Africa, Asia, etc. Revolutionaries fully support such direct action.
In Seattle “taking on the might of the state’s paramilitary forces” helped paralyse the WTO meeting. It emboldened the ‘third world’ leaders to stand up to the outrageous demands of the imperialists. It plunged the WTO into a crisis it has yet to recover from. In Genoa it was the sacrifices of the anti-capitalist fighters in the face of a carabinieri onslaught, including the tragic death of Carlo Giuliani, which helped bring 300,000 workers and youth onto the streets on Saturday. Again it was the direct action and the state’s response which swung international opinion against the G8.
Of course direct action, properly defended demonstrations, anti-arrest squads are not sufficient - but vitally important on the day. WP put out tens of thousands of leaflets arguing the need to link the struggle to the workers’ movement, to fight to call a general strike in Genoa and in Italy. Only the power of the workers of Genoa could have really paralyzed the summit, only removing the “peaceful” leaders of the RC and CGIL could get it. But to support peaceful demonstrations against the anti-capitalist protests is to line up with these reformist misleaders.
The Weekly Worker observer mocks Chris Bambery for attempting to climb the red zone fence. Carlo Giuliani’s life was “sacrificed needlessly as part of a misdirected street battle”. It’s time WP “grew up”. Comrades, the members of the SWP, of Ya Basta, of WP and Revolution showed a hundred times more revolutionary courage than is shown by the CPGB.
Your ‘intervention’ at Genoa consisted of sending half a dozen scribes to wander around observing different parts of the action in order to write sneering pieces for the Weekly Worker. You treat the anti-capitalist movement with the contemptuous disdain of passive propagandists. Your cowardly and pacifist line on Genoa should be treated with the contempt it deserves by the anti-capitalist and the workers’ movement.
John McKee
Workers Power
Slaves marching
As always with communist propaganda, when opposing the enemy your paranoia
blames both the state and the anarchists for your defeat, and with great
lack of originality you now claim without proof that the police are donning
masks and throwing bricks.
Marx once accused Bakunin of being a secret policeman, so nothing changes there with your attempts to ‘black bloc’ those activists who possess more vitality and energy than the theorists and moral blackmailers that wish to coordinate resistance.
Genoa was a defeat. Do you honestly believe that men such as Blair, Bush, Putin and the rest were impressed by the sight of thousands of slaves marching up and down the streets with their colourful banners and costumes? No political decisions will be influenced by the marches. The politicians and the multinationals will continue to drain away human liberty like the parasites that they are, and the resources of this planet will be further depleted.
Because I love the ideal of liberty I could never love Leninist bureaucrats, but I would have more respect for you if you at least showed some initiative. But, since you are a party that throughout its existence has been nothing more than a gaping mouth for Soviet funds, you are probably hoping that by staying small nobody will notice you enough to finish you off.
The planet will not be freed by non-violent protest. By doing nothing you further empower the state.
Hope you survive. Ha!
Henry Tyler
Friends of Life and Freedom
Who needs enemies?
Class War condemns the recent issue of the Weekly Worker (July 26). It
is no more than a call for authoritarian terror against anarchists, with
your definition of ‘anarchist’ including any communists who
aren’t Leninists, Stalinists or Trotskyists.
Your front page calls impotently for the whole European working class to “act now” and we all know if that was possible we’d be in a near revolutionary situation - not the situation of class weakness and division we presently suffer. As if the Italian ruling class give a toss. We agree that the working class needs its own militia to police itself (and in the past have articulated this: for example, see our former theoretical magazine The Heavy Stuff). Your demand for such sounds like a three-year-old stamping its feet. You are at best Toy Town revolutionaries whose absurd calls for the state or the class to do this or that are as meaningless as your claims to represent true communism.
Genoa was not your demonstration, so how can it be hijacked? It’s you and your tendencies that have tried hijacking May Day/anti-capitalism protests (for the original Weekly Worker position on these protests, see the June 24 1999 issue’s rant against J18, where the movement is described as one for bourgeois liberals). Not that political consistency can ever be found in your pages - one week Ken Livingstone is described as a potential dictator and fascist (April 22 1999); the next you are campaigning for him to become London’s mayor (March 9 2000 et al). Which way is the weather vane pointing this issue?
Given your irrelevance and non-participation in the anti-capitalist movement until it struck a chord with the capitalist media’s headlines, nobody in the movement was bothered about you one way or the other until you started threatening violence against genuine protesters (that’s not saying the odd hothead needs dealing with - usually for their own safety). This sort of macho crap is the reason why some insurgents in Northern Ireland spend almost as much energy killing one another as attacking the British state.
Silvio Berlusconi gave carte blanche to the Italian police. The sort of policing common in Turkey, Colombia and (in the past) Chile and Northern Ireland was dished out. The activities of the black bloc, you may argue (although we would disagree), gave political justification for this after the event, but certainly did not contribute to the beating police gave out - the less resistance, the more people would have been beaten up. Indeed your own correspondent, Andy Hannah, conceded: “They [the police] went for a pre-emptive strike.”
Berlusconi has had to pay a political price and the reason why some liberals have condemned the police is that the Italian authorities have upped the ante. The black bloc behaviour has not been considered to have upped the ante by anyone except the Leninists (ie, you and the SWP) for your own opportunist political reasons. Having climbed on the back of the anti-capitalist movement, you (and for that matter the SWP) see the chance to grab the rudder and toss everybody else overboard. Not a chance.
You claim that Thomas Harding (Daily Telegraph journalist) infiltrated the Wombles, who’d organised the riots. In fact Harding’s article said the opposite, that the Wombles didn’t organise the punch-up with the police. In fact it tried to stop them (to their shame in Class War’s opinion). In practice Harding’s infiltration was of little significance. Indeed you choose not to even mention the journalist who quite comfortably infiltrated Globalise Resistance’s train trip to Genoa.
The Bolshevik tradition has a fine record of being infiltrated by the tsarist secret police. The Russian biographer of Stalin, Radzinsky, has even claimed Uncle Joe was at one stage a police asset. Of course, there’s going to be police agents. Can you tell us there’s no police agents in the SWP or even the CPGB? Bolshevik cells were manipulated to some extent by the tsarist secret police. The Wombles are a democratic group, although you have to be active to have a say - that is good practice, and although Class War has criticisms of the Wombles, that does not make their actions counterproductive. As we saw them in action at May Day, we consider them brave and self-disciplined comrades.
You try to ridicule the anarchists for having “split right down the middle during their first big test”. Well, you Leninists are split into 57 varieties before any test! Physician, heal thyself! The black bloc is not a sect-like organisation, but a collection of like-minded activists who believe there is nothing morally wrong in confronting the police/state and if our demonstrations are to have dignity we have to stand up to police intimidation when the opportunity arises. They dress in black for security which dates back to the 80s demos when lots of punks wore black as a lot of Bohemian types always have. (They were a large part amongst those who were prepared to defend the demos from the police.)
If police agents provocateurs created false black blocs in Genoa, it is the police you should be condemning, not anarchists. As Dave Douglass has pointed out, similar stunts were pulled here in the miners’ strike, but you did not condemn the NUM for the state’s crimes! If the Weekly Worker were an effective bloc on street demonstrations do you not think similar tactics would be used against you?
You ridicule (rightly) the SWP’s talk of breaching the ‘red zone’ (it was anything but a red zone), but at least Ya Basta were serious, unlike your Leninist posturing. What’s the point of going hundreds of miles and then standing around meekly? We were at demos in the early 80s with probably 100,000 on them and all they got was a paragraph in the broadsheets. It is anarchist tactics that have made the demonstrations on May Day/G8 newsworthy; and then you parasites come along. At the time you attacked the slogan ‘anti-capitalism’, although through it we moved on the politics of such demonstrations which previously had at best been the ‘back to bicycles’ of Reclaim The Sreets. Sadly, we still have to put up with whining christians and upper class tossers like George Monbiot telling us we aren’t really protesting about our own exploitation but that third world dictators aren’t allowed into the same politicians’ club as George W Bush and co - still, at least they pissed off after the petrol bombs started flying.
Your po-faced whining about anarchists “setting ablaze dozens of cars, looted offices and fire-bombed a bank, disregarding the flats above” is laughable. Be consistent - you’d better start condemning Asian youths around the UK and people in Belfast who have done the same this year! Anyhow, on this one we’re with Durrutti. You say such acts are no more than “the expression of rage by a frustrated section of society”. So what’s wrong with that anyhow? As long as they don’t get caught, we call it the carnival of the oppressed. Is your complaint that we’re not about an ‘alliance of various churches and charity campaigns around economic issues’? Start recruiting your nuns, comrades.
You go on to claim that you are the best revolutionaries, as you went on the most demonstrations, and complain the anarchists chose to save their strength/not reveal their cards till the Friday. Well, perhaps they considered it was a pinko-liberal demo and didn’t hijack it. To you it’s all about selling papers and bossing people around - we’ve already got bosses and don’t need any more.
Next we come to Ms Becker: you’ve whined about being trapped in Oxford Circus on May Day because “anarchists” led you there from the World Bank - well, we were there running free through the streets of Soho! Only sheep blindly follow, Ms Becker. Where’s your so-called Bolshevik leadership? - following the crowd is no excuse for you.
Mark Fischer tries to conceal your Leninist/Stalinist tendencies by trying to find justification in Marx. You find some obscure text - well, face it, it’s not exactly Das Kapital or the Communist manifesto - that is, a critique of the Blanquist secret societies, a movement that based its method of organising on the secret societies of the American and French revolution and the United Irishmen - revolutions that incidentally were more successful than the proletarian revolutions that we aspire to.
Marx describes in this text the class of professional conspirator as a part of the lumpen-Bohemian of society. Does that sound familiar? As far as we can see, what you call cadre, your revolutionary knights, are no more than professional conspirators who have alienated themselves from working class society, if they ever knew it in the first place.
So to your interview with Tom Behan. He and Globalise Resistance are SWP sectarian/authoritarian scum. We should more accurately talk of SWP-ANL-GR, as they are all one and the same. The main complaint from SWP members we have heard about the black bloc is that the SWP got more of a beating - thus somehow proving the black bloc were in league with the police. To Class War it proves fighting back collectively with those you have confidence in is better protection than Gandhian pacifism. All the meek deserve to inherit is a good beating. There never will be a militant demonstration that does not suffer from police intimidation.
As for his comments, we’ve seen this sort of shit in the pages of the Evening Standard and other papers, talking of fascist infiltration of left/anarchist demos the police do not like. Needless to say, no evidence of this is produced. In fact, we know it hasn’t happened in Britain, as we have plenty of activists who can spot their people. The last time a known fascist tried to get into the Anarchist Bookfair - Jamie Demayo in 1998 - he left head first. The very same Mr Demayo attended Marxism 97 and the Workers’ Liberty 1997 day school completely unchallenged. But the SWP-ANL-GR and Behan are quite prepared to repeat state-sponsored lies.
One noticeable characteristic of the SWP and their fronts is that they constantly talk the language of war - fighting the Nazis, smashing the bill, victory in Genoa, etc, while doing nothing to protect those who get caught up in the violence at their own demonstrations, be it Welling, Bradford or Genoa. People in glass houses …
Politically these are changing times on the left. A shame then that you are so trapped in the failed dogmas of the past. Leninism is a political movement of the last century, not this. You talk of the need for a European-wide Socialist Alliance, but, perhaps thankfully, you can’t even build an England-wide SA! This is in part because of your attitude to anyone on the left who does not accept your right to pronounce authoritarian Leninist diktats. This is why the SA has such a problem in becoming a left umbrella. If it did you would presumably try to get it to do the state’s dirty work and physically attack the anti-capitalist movement!
Finally and most seriously, we turn to your disgraceful obituary of our dead comrade, Carlo Giuliani. It says much about the Weekly Worker that you attempt to pin the blame for his murder not on the Italian police, or even Berlusconi, but in part on anarchists. By your logic, after Bloody Sunday the Weekly Worker should have blamed the republican movement for throwing stones at the army after being told to disperse, or the ANC for the Sharpeville massacre.
That Carlo was a life-long anarchist is of course kept from your readers. That he received more respect in his death from the Daily Mail tells revolutionaries all they need to know about you.
Class War
Mark Barnsley Has Been Moved from Wakefield Prison
His new address is:
Mark Barnsley
WA2897
HMP Leeds
2 Gloucester Terrace
Armley
Leeds
LS12 2TJ
Mark is currently in the Segregation Unit at HMP Leeds but in good spirits. It's likely he will stay there for one month and then be moved to another long term dispersal prison. Whilst the rules on what can/can't be sent into Mark are more relaxed at Leeds, as with HMP Wakefield, Mark has to buy all his stationary and stamps from within the prison. He always appreciates letters from supporters.
On Wednedsay 22nd August 2001 London supporters will be demonstrating outside the Home Office to protest Marks segregation. Join us at Home Office, Queen Annes Gate London SW1 ( nearest tube St James Park)
As to why Mark has finally been moved from Wakefield, we don't have a great deal of information at the moment but it is clear that they finally had enough of him. Two weeks ago whilst at Wakefield Prison Mark was segregated for "refusing to work". Then the same day was suddenly given a Good Order And Discipline (GOAD) notice saying he was "under investigation for activities likely to undermine the good order of HMP Wakefield" and would be held in segregation for 28 days. The prison would give no further details despite letters from Mark's legal team.
By strange coincidence, a few days before Mark was segregated we had asked that supporters complain to the prison about them punishing Mark for his refusal to work in the prison workshop. Also a Private Company called Hepworths Building Products which exploits prison labour at Wakefield was put under scrutiny after Mark refused to do prison work, on principle and as a wrongly convicted prisoner.
The following was printed in Schnews (a weekly radical newsletter in
Britain) - FRIDAY 10th August, 2001:
"Last Friday saw the first action against forced prison labour in Britain,
when supporters of wrongfully jailed Mark Barnsley invaded and shut down
Hepworth Building Products in Edlington, South Yorkshire. Hepworth uses
prisoners at Wakefield Prison to carry out tedious work packaging their
products. In return the prisoners receive a whopping �8 a week, which
for a 25 hour week works out at a pocket bulging 32p an hour. Wakefield
has no educational programme and the prison labour is compulsory. Mark
has refused to do the work and as a result he's now being held in the
notorious isolation block. About 30 supporters invaded the site - locking
the main gates and disrupting the lunchtime shift-change - quickly knocking
up some leaflets on Hepworth's copier to distribute to workers with details
of the company's exploits. The action disrupted the warehouse and offices
for about 2 hours. The fire brigade were called to cut through the locks
on the gates but turned around and departed to cheers after it was explained
to them what the protest was about. One of those involved told SchNEWS
"It was only a small action, but considering it was relatively spontaneous
it was a great success. There were no arrests, the workers were mostly
pretty supportive (including one who actually knew Mark Barnsley from
being involved in anarchist politics back in 1980s!) and seemed to know
nothing of their company's involvement in prison labour." A delighted
Mark Barnsley said "This is brilliant! I really hope actions against companies
like this carry on; they are so easy to target on the outside and it is
so inspiring to those on the inside. Prisons themselves can stand up to
pressure, but the companies that profit from them can't. This is what
I call real solidarity." But it's not just Hepworth who are involved in
prison labour. Companies like Virgin, who get prisoners in Lewes to untangle
headphones for use in its planes; Joe Bloggs who get Strangeways inmates
to stitch its clothes and Age Concern who have their donation bags printed
and folded."
Mass Meeting of The Hatfield Miners
A crowded meeting in the big room of The Fox, took place on Saturday 11 Aug.
The meeting which included local DMBC councillors, contractors, and DSS staff was called to discuss the crisis caused by the immediate closure of the pit on Thursday.
The branch secretary and president, Dave Douglass and Rob Nixon took the meeting through events such as they had rapidly unfolded. There was total determination that the closure attempts must not be allowed to succeed. To this end the meeting was informed that the President and a pit representative would be meeting the Unions lawyers on Tuesday with a view to enforcing the compulsory 90 day consultation period.
This would have two effects, one the men would have to be paid those 90 days, and two, perhaps more importantly the fabric and integrity of the mine would have to be ensured during that period. That should stop management going ahead with plans to fill the shafts or damage the pit. That 90 days would give us the chance to meet with everybody and anybody we could to try and save the mine. Many good contributions were made from the floor and by the local councillors who pledged to fight to get the DMBC behind our efforts and get proper assistance to draw up survival plans. A committee of six men was appointed to assist the branch officials.
It was agreed that the men would all turn up for work on Monday afters shift and demand the right to work. Assembling in the pit club car park at 11-20. A meeting with the DMBC would be attempted this week and the whole meeting would reconvene same time next week. 12 Noon The Fox Saturday 18 Aug. Where the whole situation can be reviewed.
Shock closure announcement of Hatfield Main Colliery.
Management at Hatfield main colliery shocked the work force rigid and sent waves of depression round the neighbouring coal communities with their shock announcement that "the colliery is closed as of now!".
No consultation, no debate, no compliance with the law, just shut.
Hatfield Main branch National
Union of Mineworkers is calling
an open meeting on this coming Saturday 11th Aug at 12noon at the Fox
Inn, Stainforth, Doncaster for anyone with an interest in
the survival of Hatfield colliery. We want all the workers, even those
who never joined the union, and representatives from the council, together
with the local MPs to attend.
We are urgently seeking talks with Brian Wilson, the Minister of Energy, to look at means of saving the pit. First off we have to stop the management damaging the infrastructure of the colliery. By law there must be a 90 day consultation period, during which time we can try and look at other options, including perhaps a partnership between the workforce and the council.
UK coal we are told are not interested, but perhaps Richard Budge himself is. There is also the option of a workers cooperative like Tower in Wales.
The colliery was recently awarded £millions in aid from the Government, where is it ? This money was to save the colliery and assist with development costs. We would like an answer to the question of how the money was used and why the management find themselves in the mess they are now in, so soon after receiving this substantial aid package.
We shall also be demanding all options, with regards to keeping the colliery open, are explored.
The closure of Hatfield cannot be allowed to continue without a concerted fight back.