PIG abatoir to close today

[Holden_C]

Longy your contribution to this debate has been superb and i mean that.It's been a good debate once we got past the false lovin of Thatcher from Benny and as i've said i wasn't followin Arthur blindly, my reason for bein on strike was like Charlie has stated to save our industry and communities,we failed but we dint lie darn wiout a r8 f8.It was a year i'll never forget on top of the strike we lost our magnificent mum.I've said before i disliked Thatcher big time but when she died i wasn't celebratin her death more hatin her policies and what she did to our communities,now unless Benny mentions her i very rarely think of her.UTCB

I'll second that Rod. Longshortandtalls unbiased - agenda wise- posts are hugely informative. A pleasure to read. Thanks.

[BlockD]

I'll second that Rod. Longshortandtalls unbiased - agenda wise- posts are hugely informative. A pleasure to read. Thanks.

I will 3rd that,very enlightening and informative from Longshort and Charlie

[charliejoejohn2]

When it’s said Thatcher beat the miners people must bear in mind she had a hell of a lot of help from the Notts Miners that didn’t strike and also the Nacods Union leader McNestry who didn’t use the massive majority vote(around 85%)for strike action given by members. Also of course the media was used against the strikers. I had a younger brother who was at Orgreave when on tv news they showed pickets attacking the police before the police charged them with horses. When in fact it was the other way round. Being a Blade he was playing football when the police charged with the horses. That’s when the miners retaliated.

[rodcurrie]

Thanks Rod I've tried to be objective because I did work for both sides and by that I mean Government and British Coal and not the Unions. Believe me BC and Thatcher were not on the same page as there were many Management who were desperate to keep the industry alive.

My Grandmothers side were Miners originally from Staffordshire who then moved to Derbyshire and finally onto Doncaster. My Dad was a Steelworker and was made redundant because of Macgregors cuts. My cousins worked at Pits in Derbyshire.

I'm sorry to hear you lost your Mom during the strike. My grandmother who told me all these wonderful stories about her mining relatives passed away soon after. Its because of her and the fact I went to a school that had pupils from 5 mining villages that I took a keen interest in the industry. Studying politics and industrial relations also helped.

The 1984 strike became a battle of two extreme political ideologies and unfortunately thousands of miners lost their jobs far too early as a consequence. As you say even worse communities were decimated and the schemes to revive them fell pitifully short in terms of re skilling and job opportunities. I know this because I was involved in them for a time.

I came into contact with some great characters. Too many amusing stories to tell but there is a sadness that a once great industry was carved up by politicians and the establishment who couldn't look beyond their dogma and see the hardship they would inflict on a workforce and community that had helped Churchill win the 2nd World War.

Have a MASSIVE LIKE Longy,Full respect fella.UTCB

[FatherKnowsBest]

Another fascinating thread with brilliant contributions. Really enjoyed reading and gaining a deeper understanding of what went off.

From my point of view, I think the outcome was disasterous for the UK, leaving hundreds of years of coal in the ground while we buy gas from Ukraine..? It was the destruction of communities that was the biggest sin, but then Thatchers policies, especially around housing and the banking sector have resulted in us spending our entire working lives paying all our disposable incomes just to have somewhere to live. If you can recall, when she came to power, she repeated St Francis's Prayer on the step of No 10. "‘Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope" Then spent the next decade and a half doing the exact opposite. Bitch...

[Chips1889]

Might have missed it but what about the 20%+ wage increase demand?

[charliejoejohn2]

What you say about the NCB management weren’t on the same page as Thatcher in her thinking of the industry. Most of these were people from the mining communities that had worked through the industry. Mr McGreegors predecessor Norman Siddal was a good example of this. The men McGreggor and Thatcher replaced them with were yes men and put there solely to do the dirty deed. There was a slogan chanted during the strike that went something like’The miners United can never be defeated’ it’s a pity the Notts miners and the NACODS Union leader plus BACUM didn’t think the same thing. The same scenario is now happening to the police force in this country whereby they are slimming the force down to the bones but the top people in the force are burying their heads in the sand and not saying what’s happening when they know full well they are badly short of staff having finished 20,000 officers in the quest for cuts. I might be a tad cynicle but What price could I get about there being a private police force in this country in the not too distant future.

[Holden_C]

What you say about the NCB management weren’t on the same page as Thatcher in her thinking of the industry. Most of these were people from the mining communities that had worked through the industry. Mr McGreegors predecessor Norman Siddal was a good example of this. The men McGreggor and Thatcher replaced them with were yes men and put there solely to do the dirty deed. There was a slogan chanted during the strike that went something like’The miners United can never be defeated’ it’s a pity the Notts miners and the NACODS Union leader plus BACUM didn’t think the same thing. The same scenario is now happening to the police force in this country whereby they are slimming the force down to the bones but the top people in the force are burying their heads in the sand and not saying what’s happening when they know full well they are badly short of staff having finished 20,000 officers in the quest for cuts. I might be a tad cynicle but What price could I get about there being a private police force in this country in the not too distant future.

We've got one locally that's pretty much unaccountable already.

[aussieowl]

Think I learned more about that strike in the last 15 minutes than I ever knew at the time....cheers.

[bulmer1889]

The first mistake the NUM made was 4 yrs previous when thatcher had installed macgregor in charge of British steel and they set about dismantling it the steel men went to the miners to ask for help so they could defeat the government like they did a few yrs earlier,I think the miners had just had a tidy pay rise and told the steel men sorry lads your on your own,macgregor did his worst and decimated BSC he was then moved onto British coal and when they came looking the union came to the steel men to ask for help,you can imagine the reply they got,it was already too late because of the NUM decision 4 yrs previous the unions had been split so she could pick them off one by one