miners strike

Your Middle Class Tory perspective

ignores the fact that Arthur swallowed his pride and marched everyone back to work despite the overwhelming majority outside the Town Hall shouting "we're not going back" (guessing you weren't present). Never mind, we can rely on the capitalist energy market righting itself, scratch that, our future energy requirements can all come from France.

 

Mrs Thatcher didn't decide that everybody should rip out their fireplaces and install gas central heating, did she? I always thought it was consumer choice that killed off the coal industry but, obviously, those working within it will have a different view.

I know what I would rather have in my house and it's not the smelly, solid fuel option that's for sure.

Industries grow, industries die. It's in the history books. It has nothing to do with governments.

 

Which facts and figures.....Not about Cortonwood. It was already on notice of closure and it was just closed suddenly as a blatant provocation to get a reaction from nobhaed.

In terms of the situation being manipulated of course it was. I don't think since the end of the strike I've ever heard anyone deny that. And Scargill knew it. And he knew it then.

It doesn't excuse him from blame. It doesn't change the fact that even though there was a gret sign saying "Oi Scargill THIS IS A TRAP" that the lovely person was so arrogant or stupid that instead of doing what was strategically and long term the best thing for his members (the kind of thinking people paid his money should be able to do) he walked straight in - even shouting he was coming when he walked into it.

Like it or not the right decision at that time was to walk away from that fight. Like it or not the best thing for his members and their communities long term future was to renounce militancy and embrace change. **** me - noboby could argue walking away from that fight would have had a worse outcome!

But I can hear them now -- die on your feet or live on your knees...hardly living on your knees is it doing the job you're paid for and making a few changes to working practices to improve efficiencies.

 

The Ridley Plan

The Ridley Plan was to organise a confrontation with a major union and break them. This was the 84/85 miner's strike.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridley_Plan

http://www.margaretthatcher.org/archive/displaydocument.asp?docid=110795

It was an ambush, question is did Scargill know about it? and if so why push on with a strike with the odds stacked against him?

 

Strange
Currently today 50% of our countries electricity is generated from coal poeer stations !
Nothing to do with open fires that market is miniscule compared to the 50 million t per year burnt at coal plants
That is the equivalent of around 50 pits
30000 jobs plus support jobs say 100000
We have two hundred years coal left in uk at 50 m t year burn
We chucked it away and now burn imported coal
Pits in the uk that could compete with imported coal were closed !
Why ?
Ask the tories on here
They blame scargill (cover for a lack of knowledge and facts)
Just down to the fact that we were the enemy within
At least barnsley is now a far more prosperous town for it eh

 

Re: never once voted labour

Yeah creating the NHS was a real blow for the working Class I'm sure they would ave much rather still been ripped off by the private doctors at the time.

You are a first Class ******

 

The writing WaS on the wall for the mining industry by the government the only way to save it was by action .
But you keep on putting your version of events as he You see them through the eyes of a knbhead

 

actually I am with BUPA

so no need for the NHS debacle thankyou very much.

 

Re: actually I am with BUPA

Remember the Rocky theme ya knob ,"The Eye of a KNOBHEAD "

 

Do you believe the Conservative Govt of the time just wanted a few efficinecies? Because everything I've read suggests they wanted full on removal of unionised labour and they got it.

 

Thatcher wanted to break the Unions generally, and the NUM in particular, given what happened to Ted Heath in the 70's. She stockpiled coal reserves, brought in her hatchet man, and then precipitated the strike by giving notice of closure of Cortonwood within weeks (as I recall) when in the very recent past Cortonwood had been assured of many years of production.

Fortunately for her she found a willing ally in Scargill. Had he been more strategic in his thinking then he'd have got all he wanted, but he couldn't wait to have a go, and as a result played into her hands. That said, had NACODS come out, then not even Notts pits could have turned a single piece of coal out - I vividly remember Peter Walker aging 10 years in a day when it looked like NACODs would strike.

It's rumoured that by the November of the strike there was a deal on the table to give the NUM about 75% of all they wanted but that was turned down - there's also counter rumours that Thatcher blocked other deals - what a way to run a country.

Whatever, the end result is a way of life lost, communities devastated, families torn apart, a generation left in the wilderness and a country ****** into a cocked hat for its energy requirements. The quality and price of British deep mined coal cannot be matched - ask anyone who has to buy imported coal to run boilers etc in hospitals and the like.

Nothing, **** all, zilch to 'celebrate' - one the most tragic periods in British peacetime.

 

Thing is after the strike a lot of the efficiency drives, getting rid of dead wood, new practices did come in and there was an increase in the output per manshift (tonnes of coal per employee). The efficiency of pits for the most part was increasing year by year and it still wasn't enough and we had the second round of pit closures in 1992 which was the beginning of the end of the deep mining industry.

The ****ers in government didn't care about how well the pits were turning themselves around (they weren't quite all there yet) so they gave 25 year contracts to build gas fuelled power stations and the coal industry was struggling with 1 to 2 year contracts.

Hundreds of millions of pounds in investment in our pits was chalked off by a spiteful government even after they had beaten the miners.

They hated us before, during and after the strike, and were prepared to put the UK's energy supply into the hands of foreigners who could not give a stuff about Britain, just the colour of our money.

As MrX says we are still burning 50 million tonnes of coal, most of it from abroad.

 

cortonwood wasn't already on closure notice,where the **** have you got that from?
cortonwood had just been assured of the next five years and had received investment of 2 faces worth of supports and m/c's.Men had just transferred from elsecar after being told they had a minimum of five years.
they announced our pit was shutting on Friday the 2nd of march and by Monday the 5th we were on strike.

 

Re: actually I am with BUPA

That's just the attitude I expected from you.
Me me me me me me fek everybody else me me me me me fek everybody else quite a few on here including myself have been very grateful for the NHS but you carry n thinking about yourself cos to be honest not many Barnsley folk have time for a self centred person as you.

 

Re: actually I am with BUPA

We shouldn't have to feel grateful for it though, it's not a charity we pay for it with taxes and for that we get the 18th best health service in the world, whereas just over the channel in France, with a mixed public and private system has the number 1 rated health service in the world. People in France look down on the NHS with pity.

 

Re: actually I am with BUPA

And why is tht then stitts. Is it because the french have a more socialist view of life and look after the things they most value or is it because the Tories attack our health service at every oppertunity and leave it open for other friends to profiteer at every oppertunity. Imo its both of those The values f the British people (portrayed by our gov'ts is a laughing stock in Europe as they perceive us as the greedy an of Europe.
When the NHS was conceived by the labour party under massive opposition from the Tories, liberals,and the Doctors it was the envy of the world. You can thank Thatcher for her massively underfunding policy and allowing privatisation of a lot f the backroom services

 

Re: actually I am with BUPA

The French system is a mix of public and private though, it's Britain that has socialised medicine.

And yes, all the French look down on it, as they do with our food.

 

Re: actually I am with BUPA

A mix with the heath service at heart not private profits as the Tory system

 

Re: actually I am with BUPA

It's more private than ours what are you on about?

 

Re: actually I am with BUPA

You really don't know wants going on behind the scenes of the NHS do you?