Phil Sheldon

I thought the 'May Day' holiday was to celebrate honest toil?

Mountaineer

A valid point.

ON THE 4th of July 1838 a disaster took place at the Husker Pit in Barnsley in which 26 children were killed. Although the disaster was relatively small compared with many of the larger mining disasters which were occurring in the area at that time, it caught the attention of Queen Victoria. She sent a deputation to Barnsley to hold an enquiry and its report led Parliament to ban children under the age of ten from working in the mines in 1842, although over 30 years later the Mines Inspector reported that boys between ten and twelve were still working underground. Today, a memorial in the form of a small drift (tunnel) coming out of the hillside with a sculpture of a child can be found at the side of Moorend Lane (Nabs Wood) in Silkstone Common and there’s another in the church yard on the High Street in Silkstone. However, the real site of the disaster took place in a little known location, deeper inside the forest where the partially collapsed drift entrance and the stream that runs alongside it can still be examined. On the morning of the disaster, very hot weather led to a violent afternoon thunderstorm. The stream running alongside the Moorend Lane Pit became a torrent which put out the surface furnace fires and made the Moorend Lane shaft inoperable. Attempting to escape via the old Husker drift, the children found themselves trapped against air doors. The water had also flooded into the drift and its weight was bearing down on the air doors above the children. Eventually the doors gave way and the children were drowned and crushed. The enquiry found that children as young as seven were working up to 12 hours a day in the pit. Adolescent girls were employed alongside men who worked naked. The youngest children worked as trappers opening doors for approaching wagons, sitting in the dark on damp floors and exposed to draughts. Other children not only had to haul wagons but also had to help fill them with coal. The report concluded that severe beatings were rare but the children had to be kept at work and one witness told the delegation that some children were disciplined with a pick shaft or anything else a collier could get his hands on. These children were used just like slaves, forced to work to earn a pittance for their hard up families. They were by no means unique to the mining areas of Barnsley and their sort of ‘employment’ was widespread throughout Britain.
If the miners had a strong union, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise.

g hall

Perhaps Scargill should have called a secret ballot
Why don't union leaders call strikes for issues that will help the majority instead of leap frogging each other in the pay stakes

Why are trade union leaders always paid even when their members are on industrial (in)action ?

__________________
"That government is best which governs least."
"This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physician for all diseases and miseries".
"To be "matter of fact" about the world is to blunder into fantasy --and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful."
TANSTAAFL TANJ

Mountaineer

The communists are in control of the unions.

Join a real trade union
Solidaritytradeunion.net

Kevin Adamson

Whilst on the golf course the other Ive hit a seven iron sweet about 170 yards it took a terrible kick and the ball ended up in a bush. My mate says to me "Thats an Arther Scargill" (bemused look on my face) "yes" says he "A good strike but a ***** result!"

Phil Sheldon

It was Scargill's refusal to hold a secret ballot,relying instead on rhetoric,ruses and secondary picketing,that led to the erosion of support for him.

Trades Union leaders are officially full-time officials of their unions, paid a salary + expenses with no upper or lower limit on hours worked.
The poor Bloody Infantry on the other hand,by virtue of their Contracts of Employment must "make themselves available for work, as when requested by Management". No work.No pay.No overtime.No bonus.
Scargill,in 1984, led a large union and lived in a small house. In 1986 he led a small union but lived in a large house. He can talk all day and say nothing and is now a busted flush.

Mountaineer

MARK WALKER LEGAL FUND

Many of you will have heard of the Mark Walker case. He is a teacher at the Sunnydale Community College in Shildon, County Durham. He is 36, a former RAF weapons technician, a popular Design and Technology Teacher, a husband and father. He and his family have now been hit by a body-blow!

He has been suspended from his job since March, allegedly due to misusing school computers whilst at work, but our Union believes his real ‘crime’ was standing as a candidate for the British National Party. Mark has fallen foul of political correctness.

Our Trades Union Solidarity welcomes all members whatever their political background and takes a hard line against political discrimination. Freedom of Association and Expression and the right to earn a livelihood, regardless of political affiliation, are things we value. Our Union is vigourously defending Brother Mark. Beyond all the pickets, petitions and letters condeming this persecution it looks likely that the Union will have to support and fund legal action to protect Mark’s rights.

How can you help?

Well if you believe in Free Speech, Freedom of Association and a mans (or woman’s) democratic right to a livelihood then please send a donation.

We all know that Legal costs can run into many thousands of pounds and there is no guarantee of success but we believe that injustice must be challenged.

Do you wish those opposed to freedom to win without even a fight?

Trade Unions supporting New Labour have already been given the green light to ban membership from individuals belonging to parties they don’t like. This was one of the reasons for the formation of Solidarity; to enable workers to protect their employment rights without fear of discrimination on grounds of political belief.

This time we need to do our utmost to protect Mark.

We urge you to send as much as you can afford. If you are a member of an association ask your local Branch to send a small donation. Consider making a collection and sending it in. Our website will chart the its progress. Please help us to protect you. One day they might come for you. Let us take the battle for freedom and democratic rights to them, first.

See website for more details Solidaritytradeunion.net

Mountaineer

ranter wrote;
Whilst on the golf course the other Ive hit a seven iron sweet about 170 yards it took a terrible kick and the ball ended up in a bush. My mate says to me "Thats an Arther Scargill" (bemused look on my face) "yes" says he "A good strike but a ***** result!"

very good,