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Post by John on Sept 6, 2007 9:15:20 GMT -5
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Post by cortonwood on Aug 27, 2012 14:26:06 GMT -5
still a lot of bitterness toward the scabs from the strike john,especially those that never even took a single day out,..
its was amazing how few actually worked during the strike in the notts area,,,i'm saying this given that every contractor from the notts area who turned up at the yorkshire pits after the strike had done a full twelve momth on strike and supposedly had a certificate to prove it,,,I for one never saw a contractor show one of these certificates,but to listen to them you'd have thought there was no need for picketing..
if you cant fight to save your own industry and communities then you should hang your head in shame.
i'll always be of the opinion that had the scab pits not turned coal during the strike then we would still have some sort of industry left...
most ex coal mining areas are still reeling after the pit closures,well paid working class mining jobs have been replaced by poor paid retail jobs and call centres,,
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Post by John on Aug 27, 2012 15:58:02 GMT -5
When I was transferred top Cotgrave after Clifton was closed, that was early 1968 that I arrived at Cotgrave, I couldn't believe it was such a militant pit, very hard to believe it worked the strike.
They'd walk out at the drop of a hat!
Not long after I'd finished my apprenticeship in Sept of 68, we were ready to walk off the job, in fact we were walking back to the lamproom to hang up our lamps and get showered!!
One of our lads was saying there had been many a nightshift they have walked home from Cotgrave to Nottingham, about five miles, stopped at Trent Bridge in the early hours and had snap! ;D
In Oz, you never break a strike, at least when I was over there, things can change in 20 plus years, but those blokes when they strike don't need picket lines!!
The company I worked for in the early 80's locked us out the gates, about seven pits on the south coast, next day every pit in NSW and Queensland had stopped production and were out in sympathy with us!!
It was a provoked national coal strike by BHP, I don't think they expected the support we got. It turned into an embarrassment to the NSW Labour government. It was getting towards selective power cuts towards the end, and the Labour government offered a pay package to their mineworkers to get them back to work..
They told the politicians to get stuffed, and stood by the rest of us up until we were all ordered to return to work by the Coal Tribunal Judge, who also ordered the employers to find us work.
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Post by cortonwood on Aug 28, 2012 17:29:45 GMT -5
to be honest john after all these years since the strike my hatred to some of the scabs has changed,lads that did 9,10 months on strike and went back to work destitute i feel for,houses being reposessed,marriages breaking up,its hard to condemn a bloke for that,they gave it their all,,,,,,,,,,,but the scabs that never tried i'll never forgive,they thought their pits were safe and it came back to bite them as hard as it bit us..
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Post by spanker on Aug 30, 2012 14:57:40 GMT -5
C,mon cortonwood if were gonna be honest lets talk about the strike, i picketed every day from day 1 after the 2nd week i was arrested for obstruction of the police and banished to the wood run, cutting down trees anywhere and everywhere for the striking lads and delivering it door to door, for this i received £4 picket money and £10 for fuel in the car.
I was on the picket line every day a.m and p.m.then wooding, everyone received this money who went into the welfare, who had a car other strikers got £4 this was the hub.
I know of lads who were active and had no family to support whom received payments for car tax, new tyres and repairs to vehicles.
I also know of lads my brother being 1 who at the beginning never picketed but was on the fringes and not at work ,with families mortgages and bills, he had a son whom was poorley at the time and went for assistance to the paymaster (who had always got a hamlet cigar in his gob from day 1 to the end)and my brother was flatly refused as he had never been to receive his picket money!
He went back to work shortly after and these i beleive are the blokes we should have looked after now ( in hine sight)
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Post by spanker on Aug 30, 2012 15:05:00 GMT -5
Rac ive p.m.d you.
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Post by cortonwood on Aug 30, 2012 16:45:14 GMT -5
spanker,i aggree with your post entirely..
if you read my post i'm talking about those that never came out on strike and the pits that continued producing..
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Post by spanker on Aug 31, 2012 11:57:12 GMT -5
I had the delightful experience during the strike of being locked up for 18hrs with a bunch of loonies from Goldthorpe colliery  ,don't recall where they had been assigned this particular evening but we were on the A1 towards a power station our mission was to stop the trains! We had been doing reccys over there for a couple of nights prior and reported back to H.Q. 'have you seen the size of those bloody trains' we uttered  the intentions of our little troop was to derail one  leading the !!! After carrying a rail a few hundred yards we gave up these rails were huge and I'm pleased we did cos we may have just been getting out of nick now. The 18 hrs with the Goldy loonies was very intense we were all singled out and taken in front of the gestapo, interviewed about our political beliefs, they really thought we were Russian infiltrators and kept banging on about communism and that i was a communist, we were not allowed to let our wives /families know were we where until we gave them our names and addresses and we all know in times of war it is your check no.only hence the 18hrs locked up. I can remember the gestapo ringing the ex wife early morning and asking her who i was before being relaesed and bless them no taxi back from Mansfield police station to the A1 but who cared as we had no work to go to ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by tygwyn on Feb 6, 2014 16:38:11 GMT -5
Here`s something that came up on the Welshcoalmines site,thought maybe some here could clarify the matter,
It was stated that Leicestershire NUM Leadership advised its members to carry on working,yet voted on Strike meetings to carry on the strike,
I have asked but as yet no reply, as to How these Leicestershire NUM officials were allowed to vote on carrying on the strike,when they themselves advised their members to work,very strange carrying on`s.
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rob52
Shotfirer.
Posts: 199
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Post by rob52 on Oct 14, 2014 6:37:56 GMT -5
Was given a copy of "Look Back in Anger" The Miners' Strike in Nottinghamshire 30Yrs On - Harry Paterson YOP2014 ISBN 9781907869952.
Its an interesting read.
Rob
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Post by colly0410 on Oct 14, 2014 9:34:03 GMT -5
Was given a copy of "Look Back in Anger" The Miners' Strike in Nottinghamshire 30Yrs On - Harry Paterson YOP2014 ISBN 9781907869952. Its an interesting read. Rob I clocked that in the library earlier on, I was just going to get in when I started yabbering to someone I know, when I eventually went to get it someone had snaffled it, I should have been quicker..  |
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Post by tygwyn on Oct 16, 2014 5:56:31 GMT -5
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Post by tygwyn on Oct 24, 2014 5:41:29 GMT -5
Did anyone find this programme as interesting has i did?
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Post by tygwyn on Oct 25, 2014 16:16:34 GMT -5
Nice to see your contribution on the Welsh forum John,
When you mentioned you could`nt see the programmes on the Strike as you now lived in the US,don`t the links to UK programmes placed here work on PC`s in the US?
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Post by John on Oct 25, 2014 16:28:39 GMT -5
Nice to see your contribution on the Welsh forum John, When you mentioned you could`nt see the programmes on the Strike as you now lived in the US,don`t the links to UK programmes placed here work on PC`s in the US?
I think you mean Aditnow, Jim.. |
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Post by John on Oct 25, 2014 16:30:48 GMT -5
Nice to see your contribution on the Welsh forum John, When you mentioned you could`nt see the programmes on the Strike as you now lived in the US,don`t the links to UK programmes placed here work on PC`s in the US? |
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Post by tygwyn on Oct 25, 2014 17:23:22 GMT -5
Yes ,Aditnow,my mistake,
I first posted on the Welshcoalmines regarding the Scargil speech mentioning the 4 day week over a week ago,Silence,lol,
After a few Union prods and nothing i posted a similar post Here and on Aditnow,then the fireworks started,
All i wanted to know was about this 4 day week ,as i had not heard or maybe forgotten about it,but i did remember the NUM turn down the mention of 6 day coaling if Margam ever opened.
Its a shame some of the older boy`s here,especially from Yorkshire don`t seem to post anymore,as i`m sure they would know more about this 4 day week Scargil mentioned.
Its strange that the BBC bar US viewing,yet we can watch US links here,
Reckon their still peeved over the Independence,lol.
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Post by John on Oct 26, 2014 5:46:20 GMT -5
Yes ,Aditnow,my mistake, I first posted on the Welshcoalmines regarding the Scargil speech mentioning the 4 day week over a week ago,Silence,lol, After a few Union prods and nothing i posted a similar post Here and on Aditnow,then the fireworks started, All i wanted to know was about this 4 day week ,as i had not heard or maybe forgotten about it,but i did remember the NUM turn down the mention of 6 day coaling if Margam ever opened. Its a shame some of the older boy`s here,especially from Yorkshire don`t seem to post anymore,as i`m sure they would know more about this 4 day week Scargil mentioned. Its strange that the BBC bar US viewing,yet we can watch US links here, Reckon their still peeved over the Independence,lol.
Can't comment on the four day week etc, new to me..Read a lot about the strike, even "secret" papers and memos on the government side, but four day week is new to me. |
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Post by tygwyn on Oct 26, 2014 15:05:44 GMT -5
Buckhill mentioned about the 4 day week up in the North East on Aditnow,where it was considered working 4 longer shifts,but it was not taken up.
I cannot see Scargils 4 day week being longer hour shifts,although the Sparkies would get extra kip time lol.
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Post by John on Oct 26, 2014 15:21:07 GMT -5
I used to work 7 on, 2 off,7 on 2 off 7 on 2 off, starting days day, afts afts, night,s nights, nights.
Over the month, we were monthly paid, it averaged four 40 hour weeks. If a shift fell on a public holiday, we could elect to have triple time, or double time and a day off in lieu.. I always elected to be paid double time and built a little more than an extra weeks leave.
Took a bit of time to get used to it, but seemed normal after a few months.
I preferred that shift system more than doing a weeks worth of days, afters and nights...I hated dayshifts, too many bosses around, on shifts I was my own boss and trusted to make on the spot decisions.
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,don't recall where they had been assigned this particular evening but we were on the A1 towards a power station our mission was to stop the trains!
the intentions of our little troop was to derail one 
leading the 
