Members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) held a spirited picket line during a one-day strike on March 18, following the bosses’ decision four days earlier to issue 90-day dismissal notices to 293 of the union members.

“By issuing the 90-day notice they are hoping to force the men to return to work under a new contract with flexible working that will include the new 12-hour shift patterns,” explained John Marron, one of the miners who took part in the strike. Marron is treasurer of the union branch at the pit and has worked there for 37 years. “They hope that they can force us to accept the new contracts, because we would face losing our jobs and redundancy money [severance pay] if we did not.”

“Miners have worked seven-and-a-half hours a day for decades, with good reason,” he added. “We work in 90-degree heat and are exposed to high levels of dust. The longer the day, the worse it is.”

The March 18 strike was the second of its kind at the pit to oppose the proposed shift changes. The strike was solid, including all three shifts and won the support of a small number of miners who are already contracted to work the longer shifts. Scores of miners joined the lively picket line, successfully turning back several lorries. They also helped to convince a group of pit deputies, members of the NACODS (National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies, and Shotfirers), not to cross the picket line.

Coal bosses are trying to play off the miners at Kellingley against NUM members further north at the Wistow colliery, which is scheduled to close. The bosses have said that miners at Wistow will be transferred to Kellingley. “The Wistow men are being told by UK Coal that it is too dangerous for them to come here while we are in dispute,” said Terry Briscoe, another of the NUM pickets at Kellingley that day. The union has proposed that, rather than extend the hours to find work for miners laid off at other pits, a new coal face be opened at Kellingley.

“They have tried to introduce these longer shifts now because there is a ‘face gap’—there is currently no production at this pit—so that any strike action that we take will be less damaging to UK Coal,” Briscoe added.

“The strikes are preventing installation work from being done,” John Marron pointed out. The union has also been carrying out an overtime ban for several weeks. Further one-day strikes are planned over the coming weeks.  
 
 
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