O/T The Price Of Coal 1977 BBC Drama

[KerrAvon]

@MMM.

Gormley devolved the decision upon the productivity bonus scheme to the areas and Kent took the NUM to court over it. The High Court ruled that as the NUM constitution carried no provisions upon the effect of a national ballot upon such issues - any such ballot could only be advisory rather than binding. The constitution (clause 33 from memory?) did contain a clear requirement for a national ballot for national strike action and so that was binding on the union.

It's hard not to get the impression that Gormley had read the constitution, whereas Scargill hadn't (or didn't care what it said).

I wonder what it would be like to play Monopoly with Scargill? I can see him deciding that he doesn't have to go to jail when he lands on the "go to jail' square, because he only has to pick up a chance card when he lands on a 'chance' square - failing to notice, or care, that the rules provide for different outcomes in those two different scenarios.

Other than a different explanation to that given by Scargill and Livingstone for why no national ballot was held, I see that you offer no real challenge to the explanation of the strike that I set out.

At the core of the situation and of your post is this: you thought (and continue to believe) that your view of whether to strike carried more value than that of the NUM members who chose no to. When they voted to work, they were wrong, because you were right. You are so set in your belief that you adopt a tactic that a committed racist would recognise - you seek to demonstrate your belief in your superiority by labelling your opponent with the use of a derogatory word - "scab'.

You are probably right not to care what I think - it hardly matters - but you should care about your belief that your opinion that there should be a strike was more valid than than the opinion of a miner who disagreed. It explains why you lost. It was a belief shared by Scargill when he decided that there should be no national ballot. And given that he must have known that, left to their own devices, some areas would choose to work, he gambled upon being able to intimidate the people there into not doing so.

Failing to hold a national ballot ensured that you wouldn't turn the lights off. Mass and secondary picketing ensured that public support went to the government.

The founders of the union movement would have been turning in their graves at the execution of the miners strike. It involved a perversion of their beliefs through the shattering of any notion of the solidarity that supports the word 'union' and of the deliberate setting of one group of working people on another.

Uniions should protect their members, not disregard their views and intimidate them.

[millmoormagic]

@MMM.



At the core of the situation and of your post is this: you thought (and continue to believe) that your view of whether to strike carried more value than that of the NUM members who chose no to. When they voted to work, they were wrong, because you were right. You are so set in your belief that you adopt a tactic that a committed racist would recognise - you seek to demonstrate your belief in your superiority by labelling your opponent with the use of a derogatory word - "scab'.

Ok, as i pointed out in my previous reply, where are the nottinghamshire miners now? where are any of the scabby turncoats now? i'll tell you where, not working down the pit, not earning more bonuses than most other miners because they had favourable conditions, in short their pits got shut just like ours, so, who was right kerr??? was it scargill, the man who stated from the off the plans were to shut 70 pits, they said 22....who was lying, who will be proved right historically Kerr?? i'll tell you who, Scargill, and me, and the other 120K who stayed solid, scabs will forever be scabs, shatting on their own kind, the lowest of the low, regardless of what you think, i couldn't care less fella.

[Exiletyke]

Ok, as i pointed out in my previous reply, where are the nottinghamshire miners now? where are any of the scabby turncoats now? i'll tell you where, not working down the pit, not earning more bonuses than most other miners because they had favourable conditions, in short their pits got shut just like ours, so, who was right kerr??? was it scargill, the man who stated from the off the plans were to shut 70 pits, they said 22....who was lying, who will be proved right historically Kerr?? i'll tell you who, Scargill, and me, and the other 120K who stayed solid, scabs will forever be scabs, shatting on their own kind, the lowest of the low, regardless of what you think, i couldn't care less fella.

I'd like to know if Kerr had been in this position how would he have conducted himself when faced with losing his livelihood & in many cases along with many others seeing the break up of his family
would he have said to the Nottinghamshire,Leicester miners et al Yes I understand your position so it's ok with me for you to continue to work while the rest of us are driven to seeing our families kids etc go without I really don't think so
Desperate times call for desperate measures as Thatcher more than ably demonstrated presumably with your belated unaffected approval
Just thank your lucky stars Kerr you never had to make such choices