THE NEED FOR RECONCILIATION OVER THE MINERS’ STRIKE
Thursday 4 March, 2010
UK
A scene in South Yorkshire during the miners’ strike of 1984/85
By Charles Gardner
It is exactly 25 years since the year-long Miners’ Strike of 1984/5 finally ended after much bitterness and strife in communities that thrived on the black gold.
Led by the formidable but stubborn Arthur Scargill, the coal miners who once accounted for some 100,000 workers in Britain have since been reduced to a mere handful as one colliery after another shut down in the wake of the disastrous walkout.
And now huge coal-fired power stations like Drax in North Yorkshire, whose imposing cooling towers I pass on my way to work every day, are in many cases importing the stuff from overseas where they produce it more cheaply.
So what did that terrible strike achieve? It succeeded only in losing jobs prematurely for thousands of workers, although on the positive side you could say that it meant future generations would be spared the hardships and health risks of deep mining, sweating profusely as they dig the fuel from the bowels of the earth in ever-dangerous conditions.
Worse than that, however, the strike left a legacy of bitterness in communities – often in the North as well as in Wales – where residents had lived cheek by jowl with one another for generations.
The resentment against employers was understandable because a man who works hard in tough conditions deserves a fair wage for his labours. But if Mr Scargill had followed the ethos of Labour movement founders like Kier Hardie, he might have been more inclined to heed scriptural injunctions on such matters, in particular the instructions of John the Baptist to the Roman soldiers who asked what they should do to show they had repented of their sins. The cousin and forerunner of Jesus Christ told them bluntly: “Be content with your wages.”
But there was a knock-on effect far worse still than the bitterness between employer and worker. Formerly close-knit communities became split down the middle over allegiance to the strike, with its deprivations stretching patience and endurance to the limit in the case of many families.
When some could take it no longer, or felt it was a lost cause, they returned to work, only to be jeered at as ‘scabs’ and forever since sidelined as suitable social companions. This was especially the case in Nottinghamshire, where a rival – and more moderate – union distanced themselves from Mr Scargill’s National Union of Mineworkers.
And then there were the pitched battles with the police – some of them mounted on horseback – who were trying to keep order amidst the chaos.
Unions have since lost their teeth – and that is unfortunate because they had an important role to play in challenging the bullying and overbearing tactics of many employers. But they overstretched themselves, and paid for it.
And apparently encouraged by what many saw as former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s crushing of union power, employers seem to have taken that as a signal for keeping workers in their place as never before.
But they need to heed the words of James, the brother of Jesus, who wrote: “The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you…You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.”
It’s time for reconciliation in the old mining communities – for that is what the Christian gospel is all about. And healing the wounds is essential for a healthy future.
As one whose Yorkshire family has seen both sides of the divide – my late wife was a miner’s daughter and my great uncle was a mine owner – I believe reconciliation, and healing, is possible. And on two occasions I can remember – both in a church environment – I publicly apologised on behalf of my family for any unjust actions against working miners. This I felt was my Christian duty as one who believes the cross of Christ was for the reconciliation of the world – so that those who have been wronged or who have wronged others can offer and receive the same forgiveness that Jesus proclaimed when he said of those who had crucified him: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Photo: Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Neil Buxton wrote:
Miners working hard in tough conditions were paid a fair wage - an exceptional wage in its day. The problems were more that of greed than unfair wages.
The Power Loading Agreement (PLA) gave a good wage and bonuses for output targets were pretty fair too. Having said that the drive to produce as much coal as possible also compromised safety in one of the most dangerous working environments possible. I should know - if it wasn’t for the beck on my safety helmet, my head would have been removed in one accident - all due to the haste to produce coal.
From the political point of view, Scargill may have been right in that the government had an agenda to close the mines down. His approach to it though made him the instigator of his own (and our) downfall - at least his predecessor had a shopping list and an earnest desire for negotiation. Scargill was set on defeating the government, not serving his members.
In the first strike I was only an apprentice so I was allowed to continue college and training. In the second strike I was management so had to run the gauntlet of the picket lines (very ugly). In both strikes my brother was on the picket lines but during the second one became one of the trickle of returning workers - scab if you must use the word.
In Stoke on Trent now where there were lots of collieries, they’ve all long gone. Industrial estates and country parks have replaced headsticks. I’ve not heard of any animosity for years and years now. It’s almost as if it was a previous generation, all forgotten.
Then there is the financial aspect of it all. News often reported that the Coal Board had just about broke even but the reality was that Deep Mines were bleeding money, the books only being balanced by the profitability of opencast mines, but no one wanted those in their back gardens!
In the current cynical, finger pointing, condemning society that we’ve become, would people stand for that amount of financial loss nowadays? I think not.
To me Charles, there may be individuals who hang onto bitterness about the demise of the industry (and yes, I lost my job) but to say that whole communities still harbour resentment - I do find that hard to believe. I read avidly your articles and agree with just about everything you write, but let’s hope that we’re not going to have a silver anniversary with sensationalism that isn’t warranted.
We shot ourselves in the foot, thanks to Arthur and paid the price for it. However, if we had behaved better around the negotiating table, the mines would still have gone due to environmentalists and more realistically due to financial viability.
My brother, a pit electrician ended up working on the docks in the Bristol area where they unloaded one product only - cheaper coal from China. It was and still is cheaper to opencast coal in the USA or China, put it on a boat, sail it to the UK and sell it cheaply than to mine a tonne of coal from a UK deep mine.
It’s over. It’s been that way for years. It won’t come back.
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