Court seizes miners’ funds – an attack on us all

The Tory anti-union laws have finally been used against the miners.

The South Walea area of the mineworkers’ union has been fined £50,000 for contempt of court.

On the same day the South Wales NUM were fined, Eddie Shah got another £125,000 out of the NGA in reward for his anti-union activities in Warrington.

Up to now the Tories have been reluctant to take the miners to court. But, if they get away with it now, they will use the law against the NUM again – for example, to help them move coal from the pitheads to the power stations.

This is an issue that affects the whole trade union movement, not just the NUM. A law that succeeds in humbling the miners can then be used against any strike.

The TUC committed itself in 1981 to giving total physical support to any union attacked under the Employment Acts.

The miners will get plenty of verbal support from left wing union leaders like Ray Buckton of the train drivers, Jimmy Knapp of the railway workers, and Moss Evans and Ron Todd of the transport union.

But the miners need more than words. They need solidarity action from the whole trade union movement.

(4 August, 1984)