Despite union's ballot decision Miners bid to strike

posted outside NUM headquarters as executive members left their meeting yesterday, but a police inspector said there was no violence.

* or We've got "reds', but no coal Coal stocks OVER 108,000 miners strike spread to nearly MINERS ARE planning to form a national strike committee within their union to spread the unofficial dispute throughout the coal fields.

Attempts to form the committee were taking place in London yesterday after the National Union of Mineworkers executive had decided not to cancel the ballot on the Coal Board's pay offer and refused to call a special delegates' conference to discuss national strike action.

Speaking after the executive's meeting at union headquarters in Euston, NUM secretary Lawrence Daly said that the executive unanimously condemned "intimidation and violence in which a minority of those lobbying were involved' well down PRESS CORRESPONDENT were out yesterday, as 130 pits all over Britain.

The majority of miners in Scotland, Yorkshire, Kent and S Wales are solidly out and they have been joined by four Durham pits and one in the The Coal Board admits that the strike has already lost them more than 1.5 million tons of coal-and, with stocks well down on last year's igures, the Board is showing signs of alarm.

The Central Electricity Generating Board said yesterday they were watching the miners' strike "closely and with some concern'.

«We have just over 10,750,000 tons in stock at our power stations and this is the average amount for just over six weeks at winter demand-rate,' a CEGB spokesman claimed.

It is already one million tons less than we should have in stock now, and we estimate that, this week alone, there will be a 450,000-ton shortfall in coal deliveries.' A Gas Council spokesman said their stocks were enough for four ог five weeks of 'typical winter' demand.

The British Steel Corporation said their supplies were down to 'about two-thirds' of what they should be, but they were operating a controlled cut-back to cope.

Forty pits were idle and five partially idle in Yorkshire.

In Scotland 18,000 miners were on strike and 26 pits idle.

Joe Gormley, NUM NW area secretary, was said to have been kicked and Albert Martin, Nottinghamshire secretary, said that he had been struck in the groin.

But a police inspector on duty outside the headquarters said that there had been some pushing and shoving on the part of the 600-strong lobby but he had received no reports of anyone being pushed.

REPUDIATED

Reporting had that a 14-man delegation asked the executive to cancel the ballot and call a special conference, Emlyn Williams, vice-president of the S Wales miners, pudiated Daly's claims of 'This was a trick used on the part of the national executive because they wanted to avoid meeting representatives of the men outside, he claimed.

'They should have refused the latest offer outright; instead they ran to their father confessor Lord Robens, he added.

Holmes, Kent miners' president, said after the meeting that there was a danger of the union breaking up:

'We not prepared to continue with a weak leadership, he added.

Most of the lobbyists dispersed executive statement, but some stayed behind to meet in London to make arrangements to form the strike committee.

COMMITTEE

I understand that the committee will be made up of area éxecutive members from Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire and Kent, and approaches will be made to Durham and other areas to nominate their own representatives.

The strike committee will consist of area executive members, but will exclude those who sit on the national executive.

Arrangements will be made over the weekend to send teams into other coalfields to call men out.

Lawrence Daly said that he