The Miners Strike

[Once U shop, U can't stop]

Unsure whether to reveal this, but my mother's cousin was the Senior Deputy Chairman of the NCB at the time of the strike, serving under firstly Derek Ezra and then Ian McGregor. Though I never met him (a retired headmaster), I often visited his parents on my own when I was lad.

I researched his career recently. As early as 1973, Ezra received a plan of action from Wilfred Mirion (a former Chairman of the East Midlands NCB Division) which proposed 1) automation to replace miners at the coalface; 2) changing shift patterns; 3) an attempt at gasification of coal in seam to eliminate the need for any underground work-force and 4) a pit incentive scheme to politically divide the area Unions. This last prong was because Mirion had identified that the executive of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) would become increasingly politically oriented towards the left, rather than peopled by moderate men.

The plan was adopted and my relative was one of two men who implemented it. He was involved in negotiations with Scargill and McGahey and fronted several meetings with miners, receiving a CBE for his efforts.

I don't support the NCB, but during my research I was struck by the proliferation of photos in book after book of striking miners, their militant wives, picket lines - which were all so newsworthy and graphically aroused feelings of solidarity with the miners. On the other hand, sections of the workforce broke away from the NUM, disagreeing with their stance, and formed a new union - just as was predicted.

I also saw that my relative genuinely was 'a coalman'. He was a highly qualified engineer. But it was obvious to him that mining coal was becoming an increasingly expensive business and that mechanisation (which meant the loss of jobs) was the only way to go forward. In hindsight, and with the present-day move to cut coal mining as part of the war against global warming, running down the mining of coal in the UK was inevitable - it was a battle that couldn't be won.

The NCB was maligned - but there are several books which deal with the strike (many of which imo are obviously biased). Some can be found in Google Books such as Britain's Civil War over Coal: An Insider's View by David Feickert.

[splott parker]

One by product of the demise of the pits was the flooding of the labour market, particularly construction. Certainly not knocking the ex miners but the redundancy pay/severance pay, whatever it was called, subsided retraining enabled them to square up their debts and make a fresh start. The ‘go to’ industry was construction. Cardiff and I’d imagine places like Sheffield, Newcastle, Barnsley etc were hit by the working man’s worst nightmare ‘Glut of labour/lack of work’. We still had our ‘city’ mortgages & bills to pay and, unfortunately, peace work was the norm on sites, the ‘new tradesmen’, fresh from their crash courses were undercutting us left, right & centre due to their relatively lower outgoings. Our little Saturday fiddles went west as well, especially for valley based brickies, chippies, for years the miners had the cash to have these minor house improvements done (it made the world go around), now they were doing them themselves.

I stress that I’m not knocking the lads at all, they had to do what they had to do but I lived through it and the situation in my trade was dire, we’d done four year apprenticeships and the six month diluties (as we called them) were killing us. Where we’d once had the whip hand it now became a dog eat dog world, negotiating money had gone out of the window, it was take it or leave it.

All part of that woman’s master plan in my opinion, keep the workers in fear for their jobs. Legitimate unrest in the workplace completely quelled, 15% interest rates for those of us with mortgages meaning a fair wedge to be shelled out monthly. People with a council house having the safety net of rent subsidies should work dry up being encouraged to buy said council house to put that monthly noose around their necks.

We had the added blow of East Moors closing in Cardiff as well which flooded the labour market a few years previously as well. The knock on effect of the crushing of the pit men & steelworkers reached far & wide not just in their communities.

Ironic though how the greedy and ruthless attitudes of those in power of those days has come back and bitten society on the arse. Apprenticeship & training schemes were obliterated, the short sighted reason being that it wasn’t cost effective having youngsters making mistakes, working at a slower pace, having time off site to attend college etc. The result being now that decent tradesmen are at a premium and demanding the type of remuneration that must sicken any of those advocates of Thatcherism who are still around who wanted the likes of me kept firmly in my place in the pecking order.

So, the miners strike did define the intervening years, no long term investment in pit communities to provide sustainable long term employment to replace the coal face. Quangos like the WDA milking money off their government mates , building phoney units on ‘made up’ trading estates, then disappearing when the grants dried up and these units employing low paid staff changing hands and types of business many times over the years.

Bit of a long rant for a Saturday morning, sorry for that. F*ck Thatcher & Up The City.

[insider]

Very eloquently written.
The bigger picture and knock on effect was never covered by that cow she just wanted to smash the unions.
Hungry people and destitute communities were just collateral

[Jordi Culé]

One by product of the demise of the pits was the flooding of the labour market, particularly construction. Certainly not knocking the ex miners but the redundancy pay/severance pay, whatever it was called, subsided retraining enabled them to square up their debts and make a fresh start. The ‘go to’ industry was construction. Cardiff and I’d imagine places like Sheffield, Newcastle, Barnsley etc were hit by the working man’s worst nightmare ‘Glut of labour/lack of work’. We still had our ‘city’ mortgages & bills to pay and, unfortunately, peace work was the norm on sites, the ‘new tradesmen’, fresh from their crash courses were undercutting us left, right & centre due to their relatively lower outgoings. Our little Saturday fiddles went west as well, especially for valley based brickies, chippies, for years the miners had the cash to have these minor house improvements done (it made the world go around), now they were doing them themselves.

I stress that I’m not knocking the lads at all, they had to do what they had to do but I lived through it and the situation in my trade was dire, we’d done four year apprenticeships and the six month diluties (as we called them) were killing us. Where we’d once had the whip hand it now became a dog eat dog world, negotiating money had gone out of the window, it was take it or leave it.

All part of that woman’s master plan in my opinion, keep the workers in fear for their jobs. Legitimate unrest in the workplace completely quelled, 15% interest rates for those of us with mortgages meaning a fair wedge to be shelled out monthly. People with a council house having the safety net of rent subsidies should work dry up being encouraged to buy said council house to put that monthly noose around their necks.

We had the added blow of East Moors closing in Cardiff as well which flooded the labour market a few years previously as well. The knock on effect of the crushing of the pit men & steelworkers reached far & wide not just in their communities.

Ironic though how the greedy and ruthless attitudes of those in power of those days has come back and bitten society on the arse. Apprenticeship & training schemes were obliterated, the short sighted reason being that it wasn’t cost effective having youngsters making mistakes, working at a slower pace, having time off site to attend college etc. The result being now that decent tradesmen are at a premium and demanding the type of remuneration that must sicken any of those advocates of Thatcherism who are still around who wanted the likes of me kept firmly in my place in the pecking order.

So, the miners strike did define the intervening years, no long term investment in pit communities to provide sustainable long term employment to replace the coal face. Quangos like the WDA milking money off their government mates , building phoney units on ‘made up’ trading estates, then disappearing when the grants dried up and these units employing low paid staff changing hands and types of business many times over the years.

Bit of a long rant for a Saturday morning, sorry for that. F*ck Thatcher & Up The City.

Well played Splott Parker.

[the other bob wilson]

One by product of the demise of the pits was the flooding of the labour market, particularly construction. Certainly not knocking the ex miners but the redundancy pay/severance pay, whatever it was called, subsided retraining enabled them to square up their debts and make a fresh start. The ‘go to’ industry was construction. Cardiff and I’d imagine places like Sheffield, Newcastle, Barnsley etc were hit by the working man’s worst nightmare ‘Glut of labour/lack of work’. We still had our ‘city’ mortgages & bills to pay and, unfortunately, peace work was the norm on sites, the ‘new tradesmen’, fresh from their crash courses were undercutting us left, right & centre due to their relatively lower outgoings. Our little Saturday fiddles went west as well, especially for valley based brickies, chippies, for years the miners had the cash to have these minor house improvements done (it made the world go around), now they were doing them themselves.

I stress that I’m not knocking the lads at all, they had to do what they had to do but I lived through it and the situation in my trade was dire, we’d done four year apprenticeships and the six month diluties (as we called them) were killing us. Where we’d once had the whip hand it now became a dog eat dog world, negotiating money had gone out of the window, it was take it or leave it.

All part of that woman’s master plan in my opinion, keep the workers in fear for their jobs. Legitimate unrest in the workplace completely quelled, 15% interest rates for those of us with mortgages meaning a fair wedge to be shelled out monthly. People with a council house having the safety net of rent subsidies should work dry up being encouraged to buy said council house to put that monthly noose around their necks.

We had the added blow of East Moors closing in Cardiff as well which flooded the labour market a few years previously as well. The knock on effect of the crushing of the pit men & steelworkers reached far & wide not just in their communities.

Ironic though how the greedy and ruthless attitudes of those in power of those days has come back and bitten society on the arse. Apprenticeship & training schemes were obliterated, the short sighted reason being that it wasn’t cost effective having youngsters making mistakes, working at a slower pace, having time off site to attend college etc. The result being now that decent tradesmen are at a premium and demanding the type of remuneration that must sicken any of those advocates of Thatcherism who are still around who wanted the likes of me kept firmly in my place in the pecking order.

So, the miners strike did define the intervening years, no long term investment in pit communities to provide sustainable long term employment to replace the coal face. Quangos like the WDA milking money off their government mates , building phoney units on ‘made up’ trading estates, then disappearing when the grants dried up and these units employing low paid staff changing hands and types of business many times over the years.

Bit of a long rant for a Saturday morning, sorry for that. F*ck Thatcher & Up The City.

Well said, and it was called the “economic miracle” . What happened in 2008 and all of the suffering caused by “we’re all in it together” austerity had its roots in the Thatcherite eighties with its deregulation of financial markets.

It’s enlightening talking some of the old stagers up here in Treherbert about what the mining villages around here used to be like. The soot that used to appear on washing hung out to dry is not missed of course, but when you hear about things like the cinemas, theatres, sports halls, small businesses and shops which closed in the years after the mines went, it’s heart breaking.

The only villages in the Rhondda past Tynewydd where I live are Blaenrhondda and Blaencwn - the first named has a post office and a working mens club which is rarely open these days and that’s it, while the other has just a pub/hotel which I’m not sure whether it has reopened after look down. There used to be another village close to Blaenrhondda called Fernhill, but it doesn’t exist any more - it was demolished soon after the mines were.

[Jordi Culé]

Well said, and it was called the “economic miracle” . What happened in 2008 and all of the suffering caused by “we’re all in it together” austerity had its roots in the Thatcherite eighties with its deregulation of financial markets.

It’s enlightening talking some of the old stagers up here in Treherbert about what the mining villages around here used to be like. The soot that used to appear on washing hung out to dry is not missed of course, but when you hear about things like the cinemas, theatres, sports halls, small businesses and shops which closed in the years after the mines went, it’s heart breaking.

The only villages in the Rhondda past Tynewydd where I live are Blaenrhondda and Blaencwn - the first named has a post office and a working mens club which is rarely open these days and that’s it, while the other has just a pub/hotel which I’m not sure whether it has reopened after look down. There used to be another village close to Blaenrhondda called Fernhill, but it doesn’t exist any more - it was demolished soon after the mines were.

I'll echo some of those sentiments Bob.

I grew up in Aberfan, Merthyr Vale colliery in sight of my parents house and heated the pit hooter daily. Played football for a local boys club that was just outside the grounds of Deep Navigation.

The miners also contributed to a number of local services which were benefits of the community. In Deep Nav's case most miners contributed a few pence to the Boys club. Miners Gala's, local events and services all receiving money from the miners also.

In relation to the 'strike', I was 12 or 13 when it started. It had a big impact on me as I saw mates rummaging for coal on tips, soup kitchens, food parcels for families within the close community.

Throw in the death of David Wilkie and a number of suicides, probably brought about by the strike, the whole human wasn't lost on me at all.

Families fractured, communities shattered and then left to get on with it.

[Des Parrot]

One by product of the demise of the pits was the flooding of the labour market, particularly construction. Certainly not knocking the ex miners but the redundancy pay/severance pay, whatever it was called, subsided retraining enabled them to square up their debts and make a fresh start. The ‘go to’ industry was construction. Cardiff and I’d imagine places like Sheffield, Newcastle, Barnsley etc were hit by the working man’s worst nightmare ‘Glut of labour/lack of work’. We still had our ‘city’ mortgages & bills to pay and, unfortunately, peace work was the norm on sites, the ‘new tradesmen’, fresh from their crash courses were undercutting us left, right & centre due to their relatively lower outgoings. Our little Saturday fiddles went west as well, especially for valley based brickies, chippies, for years the miners had the cash to have these minor house improvements done (it made the world go around), now they were doing them themselves.

I stress that I’m not knocking the lads at all, they had to do what they had to do but I lived through it and the situation in my trade was dire, we’d done four year apprenticeships and the six month diluties (as we called them) were killing us. Where we’d once had the whip hand it now became a dog eat dog world, negotiating money had gone out of the window, it was take it or leave it.

All part of that woman’s master plan in my opinion, keep the workers in fear for their jobs. Legitimate unrest in the workplace completely quelled, 15% interest rates for those of us with mortgages meaning a fair wedge to be shelled out monthly. People with a council house having the safety net of rent subsidies should work dry up being encouraged to buy said council house to put that monthly noose around their necks.

We had the added blow of East Moors closing in Cardiff as well which flooded the labour market a few years previously as well. The knock on effect of the crushing of the pit men & steelworkers reached far & wide not just in their communities.

Ironic though how the greedy and ruthless attitudes of those in power of those days has come back and bitten society on the arse. Apprenticeship & training schemes were obliterated, the short sighted reason being that it wasn’t cost effective having youngsters making mistakes, working at a slower pace, having time off site to attend college etc. The result being now that decent tradesmen are at a premium and demanding the type of remuneration that must sicken any of those advocates of Thatcherism who are still around who wanted the likes of me kept firmly in my place in the pecking order.

So, the miners strike did define the intervening years, no long term investment in pit communities to provide sustainable long term employment to replace the coal face. Quangos like the WDA milking money off their government mates , building phoney units on ‘made up’ trading estates, then disappearing when the grants dried up and these units employing low paid staff changing hands and types of business many times over the years.

Bit of a long rant for a Saturday morning, sorry for that. F*ck Thatcher & Up The City.

Good post. One thing I’d add is that I worked in manufacturing in the valleys at the time & the workforce was predominantly women. I interviewed many ex-miners & many had the attitude that they had a god given right to work and that we should replace our female employees with them.

[NYCBlue]

One by product of the demise of the pits was the flooding of the labour market, particularly construction. Certainly not knocking the ex miners but the redundancy pay/severance pay, whatever it was called, subsided retraining enabled them to square up their debts and make a fresh start. The ‘go to’ industry was construction. Cardiff and I’d imagine places like Sheffield, Newcastle, Barnsley etc were hit by the working man’s worst nightmare ‘Glut of labour/lack of work’. We still had our ‘city’ mortgages & bills to pay and, unfortunately, peace work was the norm on sites, the ‘new tradesmen’, fresh from their crash courses were undercutting us left, right & centre due to their relatively lower outgoings. Our little Saturday fiddles went west as well, especially for valley based brickies, chippies, for years the miners had the cash to have these minor house improvements done (it made the world go around), now they were doing them themselves.

I stress that I’m not knocking the lads at all, they had to do what they had to do but I lived through it and the situation in my trade was dire, we’d done four year apprenticeships and the six month diluties (as we called them) were killing us. Where we’d once had the whip hand it now became a dog eat dog world, negotiating money had gone out of the window, it was take it or leave it.

All part of that woman’s master plan in my opinion, keep the workers in fear for their jobs. Legitimate unrest in the workplace completely quelled, 15% interest rates for those of us with mortgages meaning a fair wedge to be shelled out monthly. People with a council house having the safety net of rent subsidies should work dry up being encouraged to buy said council house to put that monthly noose around their necks.

We had the added blow of East Moors closing in Cardiff as well which flooded the labour market a few years previously as well. The knock on effect of the crushing of the pit men & steelworkers reached far & wide not just in their communities.

Ironic though how the greedy and ruthless attitudes of those in power of those days has come back and bitten society on the arse. Apprenticeship & training schemes were obliterated, the short sighted reason being that it wasn’t cost effective having youngsters making mistakes, working at a slower pace, having time off site to attend college etc. The result being now that decent tradesmen are at a premium and demanding the type of remuneration that must sicken any of those advocates of Thatcherism who are still around who wanted the likes of me kept firmly in my place in the pecking order.

So, the miners strike did define the intervening years, no long term investment in pit communities to provide sustainable long term employment to replace the coal face. Quangos like the WDA milking money off their government mates , building phoney units on ‘made up’ trading estates, then disappearing when the grants dried up and these units employing low paid staff changing hands and types of business many times over the years.

Bit of a long rant for a Saturday morning, sorry for that. F*ck Thatcher & Up The City.

Good post. The sad thing is that Thatcher got exactly what she wanted. The unions were obliterated. Socialism was demonized. And now we live in a world where there is no society.

[Sloop_Jon_Bee]

One by product of the demise of the pits was the flooding of the labour market, particularly construction. Certainly not knocking the ex miners but the redundancy pay/severance pay, whatever it was called, subsided retraining enabled them to square up their debts and make a fresh start. The ‘go to’ industry was construction. Cardiff and I’d imagine places like Sheffield, Newcastle, Barnsley etc were hit by the working man’s worst nightmare ‘Glut of labour/lack of work’. We still had our ‘city’ mortgages & bills to pay and, unfortunately, peace work was the norm on sites, the ‘new tradesmen’, fresh from their crash courses were undercutting us left, right & centre due to their relatively lower outgoings. Our little Saturday fiddles went west as well, especially for valley based brickies, chippies, for years the miners had the cash to have these minor house improvements done (it made the world go around), now they were doing them themselves.

I stress that I’m not knocking the lads at all, they had to do what they had to do but I lived through it and the situation in my trade was dire, we’d done four year apprenticeships and the six month diluties (as we called them) were killing us. Where we’d once had the whip hand it now became a dog eat dog world, negotiating money had gone out of the window, it was take it or leave it.

All part of that woman’s master plan in my opinion, keep the workers in fear for their jobs. Legitimate unrest in the workplace completely quelled, 15% interest rates for those of us with mortgages meaning a fair wedge to be shelled out monthly. People with a council house having the safety net of rent subsidies should work dry up being encouraged to buy said council house to put that monthly noose around their necks.

We had the added blow of East Moors closing in Cardiff as well which flooded the labour market a few years previously as well. The knock on effect of the crushing of the pit men & steelworkers reached far & wide not just in their communities.

Ironic though how the greedy and ruthless attitudes of those in power of those days has come back and bitten society on the arse. Apprenticeship & training schemes were obliterated, the short sighted reason being that it wasn’t cost effective having youngsters making mistakes, working at a slower pace, having time off site to attend college etc. The result being now that decent tradesmen are at a premium and demanding the type of remuneration that must sicken any of those advocates of Thatcherism who are still around who wanted the likes of me kept firmly in my place in the pecking order.

So, the miners strike did define the intervening years, no long term investment in pit communities to provide sustainable long term employment to replace the coal face. Quangos like the WDA milking money off their government mates , building phoney units on ‘made up’ trading estates, then disappearing when the grants dried up and these units employing low paid staff changing hands and types of business many times over the years.

Bit of a long rant for a Saturday morning, sorry for that. F*ck Thatcher & Up The City.

Brilliant post Splott P. Many thanks for taking the time to write it up; respect.
Spedger