Notts Miners Take Action
By G. Stone
1959The NewsletterG. Stone Read the scan at ETOL (PDF) →Title, extent and credit checked against the scan (17 October 2026, from the scan: page 6, foot of column 1 and top of column 2, 'NOTTS MINERS TAKE ACTION By G. Stone'; the split had scattered it over four neighbours (Liverpool Dock Strike, South Bank, the 'Peter Fryer' advertisement line, the Battersea interview)). The text is machine-read and not corrected: for anything you quote, read the scan.
It is obvious that the National Coal Board is stepping up its attacks on the miners. This is particularly true in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coalfields which the N.C.B. hope to make into a really profitable concern.
At Morton Colliery, Derbyshire, the men on 62’s face have just received a wage cut. These men are contract workers,
that is-they are paid in accordance with how much coal their power-loader gets. However, at this pit they had a ‘fallback
rate’ of 64s. l1ld. The agreed minimum rate for the rest of the county is 60s. yet the N.C.B. started to pay less than both these rates: 59s. id. Seeing this as the thin end of the wedge, the whole pit came out against it.
Some pavers have tried to make out that these men «vere
on strike for 11d. This is not so. These miners realized that if the N.C.B. were allowed to break the agreement then ,oon they would have the men working for the bare face minimum of 38s. This obviously could not be allowed.
On November 22 a meeting was called in the Morton Miners’ Welfare Hall to discuss the strike. This meeting was addressed by Bert Wynn, Derbyshire Area N.U.M. Secretary, who asked, almost pleaded with, the men to return. He said that they should have patience and follow procedure. ‘This means a pit meeting, followed by disputes court and finaily an ‘independent’ arbitrator (usually a lawyer!). Miners :ve fed up with this long drawn-out procedure and this was cne reason for the strike.
Wynn said that a fair rate for these men would be £5 per day—yet says he will negotiate a compromise!
On November 19 the strikers had passed a _ resolution calling for the sacking of the Manager and Under-Manager for their complete refusal to meet the men. Bert Wynn said this was wrong, the men to blame were ‘higher up,’ but he made no suggestion on how to move them. The men were adamant in their desire to remove the management but it vas not clear what they will do about this.
After a long discussion, the men voted to return to work— making it clear that they will soon be out again if need be.
The miners realized that alone they cannot defeat the National Coal board—and of course they were not too keen on fighting a lone, drawn-out battle just before Christmas.