The Miners Strike...

It has always made me laugh when you see young kids 14-15 shouting you Scab Bastards when we play Forest and when we used to play Mansfield years ago, half of them dont know what their on about, but some may have been indirectly affected.

My question is, and this is not to provoke anger, arguments or anything else is this.

I am 31, and not old enough to have been directly affected by the Miners Strikes, I maybe indirectly affected due to the fall on hard times of the Valleys but I wasnt around to go through the Miners Srikes.

What I ask is this, The Miners in Nottingham were and are called Scabs because some of them crossed the Picket Lines?
From what I can gather, some Miners were on strikes for months, and there were bucket collections, Braces Bread giving out food etc. etc.

Now some of these guys were going without wages for a couple of months.

Can anyone on here honestly say, that, with Mortgages, Family's to pay for, Cars to run etc etc etc, they wouldnt have gone to work.

Who on here could honestly go without 2-3 months wages.?

Would you honestly not go to work if you had a young family?

If your colleagues in your place of work were to annouce tomorow they were going to strike for the next 2 months and you would go without wages would you honestly join in and in effect go without money for 2 months?

Answers please lads, and be realy honest.

I remember my auntie and her family struggle with a young family during them times!My family comes 1st everytime,f**k what people thinks

my father and grand father were both on strike at the time, im 33 and dont remember much , but they always told me that had nottingham stayed on strike then that would have toppled the government ..

probably better to get replies from people who were there, i was only about 6 but i remember that it was slightly dif back then, my grandads house was owned by the national coal board and the fuel was supplied for the coal fire etc.. he didnt have a car so we walked everywhere..

Yes been there ,done that, with both of us on strike so no money coming in. Youve got to fight for what you believe in

my father and grand father were both on strike at the time, im 33 and dont remember much , but they always told me that had nottingham stayed on strike then that would have toppled the government ..

probably better to get replies from people who were there, i was only about 6 but i remember that it was slightly dif back then, my grandads house was owned by the national coal board and the fuel was supplied for the coal fire etc.. he didnt have a car so we walked everywhere..

I'd see my auntie crying because she was hungry n debt letters coming through the door.her 2 young kids at the time didnt go without food tho,she made sure they were ok terrible times

Yes been there ,done that, with both of us on strike so no money coming in. Youve got to fight for what you believe in

You have indeed mate, fair play, must have been a very hard time.

What really annoys me is that all the people who dont go on strike never refuse the wage increase etc at the end of it

My father was a miner, so was his father. Miners are different, don't try to compare yourself with them because it's highly unlikely that you work in the same conditions that they did.

Cooperation and trust is central to the way they work. If your mates lets you down , you could die.

So when there's a strike, they follow the same code.
Strikes were part of a miner's history. Mine owners were always trying to improve their profits. The Mineworkers Unions became strong and very important to sustain miners conditions and pay.

So when the Nottm mineworkers caved in there was a lot of bad feeling. You don't let your union down or your mates .

The mines have mostly closed and those times are past.. Yes, on top of it we're ALL relatively beter off, got more commitments and lots of us have mortgages. Times have changed. But at that time what happened in Nottm was shocking and was a betrayal. Nottm miners helped Thatcher win. It was 30 yrs ago. All that lives on is a folk memory...

With all due respect fella I think you are missing the point.

The Miners Strike was much more than a strike to uphold pay and conditions. It was a political attack from a single minded Prime Minister who was determined AT ALL COSTS to break, crush and humiliate the Unions, and chose to do this by crushing the NUM.

Whilst on paper it looked like the miners were trying to save one or two pits.....in reality they knew that if they failed ALL mining in South Wales would cease, the rest is history.

Under those circumstances I certainly would strike for two months or more in line with my fellow workers and would expect loyalty from those around me.

The reason they are despised by most and called Scabs for going back to work is simply that they put themselves ahead of all the other miners fighting, IMO, a just cause. As soon as those cracks appeared the fight was lost and whilst I forgive them, I will not forget.

BTW......I was only in my teens when the strike was on but I remember throwing all my pocket money into buckets to help feed the children of the strikers. I was lucky enough not to be directly involved but I am proud of the miners who stood up and fought for a just and worthy cause.

i know a lot of people that would have returned to work,but intimidation ruled,people, were scared.people forget as most do not like to admit,that when balloted ,the south wales miners voted to work ,but through intimidation and picketing by two south wales collierys,the picket lines wer,nt crossed,thus the start of 12 months of hardship

With all due respect fella I think you are missing the point.

Havnt missed the point mate, I was somewhere else that this was brought up the other day and just thought it would make a good thread/debate.

I wasnt around and wasnt affected so I havnt got a clue what I think realy other than I reckon that if there were similar strikes these days people would be crossing the picket line all the time due to greed.

I remember the strike realy well, I was working for Chrysty, Tyler at Outline upholstery in LLantrisant at the time, we used to get on the motorway at Sarn and there would be a convoy of lorrys carrying coal from PT steelworks to the power stations, the convoy would be so long it would disappear from view.
A lot of the lorrys were from up the Notts and Mansfield area, so they were making rich pickings out of the strike , as were the Police forces, all the overtime they needed.
I also remember the food collections, the supermarkets in Maesteg would allow miners and family to collect food donated by their shoppers, which would then be taken to a central point, for distrabution to the striking miners, I remember Nantyffyllon miners hall was used for this. A close frind of mine was out for the whole of the strike, which lasted I think for a year, you imagin no wages; not able to pay the mortgage or the bills, familys were split down the middle, if a relative broke the strike and returned to work
, there were reprisals, I know of people who had to move out of Maesteg and move away, some went to Notts and Mansfield to get work, and are there to this day. Would they have defeted Thatcher I don't think so, as there were huge stock piles of coal at the power stations, the miners were on to a loser from the start, and then there was the battle between Scargill and Thatcher, she was not going to lose that battle, the government put payed to the trade unions once and for all, which in turn put payed to a lot of communities up and down the country, now we have unemployment; low wages; drug abuse; alchol abuse, no hope for a lot of people, as we do not have a manufacturing base to offer employment to the people who are not academic, and who need factory jobs to give a purpose to their life, something to get up for in the morning, and occupy themselves for 8 hrs a day. I'm starting to rant

My grandfather was on strike in 1926 for 6 months and was starved back to work for less pay because they were not supported by other unions and especially the nottinghamshire coal field.
My father was on strike twice in the 1970s for a decent wage and again for a year 1984-1985.
he was forced back to work and never forgave thatcher, the nottingham miners or the NACODS union.
I do find it funny our supporters calling 16 year old notts forrest supporters scabs coz they will have no idea what its about.
but for those who did go back to work.....or whoever go back to work....and desert their fellow workers.....there can be no forgiveness...once a SCAB always a SCAB they will go to their graves as scabs.Shame on them all for what they done.
and if you say they went back for their families......rubbish......we were looked after down here with food parcels,toys for xmas, clothes etc.....and my granfather lived on potato soup for 6 months so dont mention starving.........they went back for GREED...PURE GREED. they had good coal seams and they were earning top dollar and they didnt think thatcher would shut their pits...........well the last laugh was ours because she did ....one by one.

Some of the stories are horrible.

Just to add that I know this is nowhere near the same, but next week Teachers are on strike.

In many schools only classes 'not schools' are shut due to some teachers working.

Is this classed as the same, ir scabs? because I know for a fact in one school the teachers who are striking are the ones being called the wankers..

the miners united will never be defeated.

Notingham scabs are hated because (as a previous poster stated) once one group of miners went back to work then others would follow. Weak link in the chain and all that.

The miners were striking for their future......scabs let the strikers down

It has always made me laugh when you see young kids 14-15 shouting you Scab Bastards when we play Forest and when we used to play Mansfield years ago, half of them dont know what their on about, but some may have been indirectly affected.

My question is, and this is not to provoke anger, arguments or anything else is this.

I am 31, and not old enough to have been directly affected by the Miners Strikes, I maybe indirectly affected due to the fall on hard times of the Valleys but I wasnt around to go through the Miners Srikes.

What I ask is this, The Miners in Nottingham were and are called Scabs because some of them crossed the Picket Lines?
From what I can gather, some Miners were on strikes for months, and there were bucket collections, Braces Bread giving out food etc. etc.

Now some of these guys were going without wages for a couple of months.

Can anyone on here honestly say, that, with Mortgages, Family's to pay for, Cars to run etc etc etc, they wouldnt have gone to work.

Who on here could honestly go without 2-3 months wages.?

Would you honestly not go to work if you had a young family?

If your colleagues in your place of work were to annouce tomorow they were going to strike for the next 2 months and you would go without wages would you honestly join in and in effect go without money for 2 months?

Answers please lads, and be realy honest.

maybe you need to look at yourself,i would personally strike,but i dare say if i was to lose my house then maybe i would work elsewhere or fiddle

the miners united will never be defeated.

Notingham scabs are hated because (as a previous poster stated) once one group of miners went back to work then others would follow. Weak link in the chain and all that.

The miners were striking for their future......scabs let the strikers down

I understand that mate about the weak chain.

Must have been a very difficult time for everyone.

I was on strike for the whole year & although it was very hard times it was also one of the best years of my life, we had absolutely nothing , skint but happy. Most of us realised after the strike that there was a better life away from the hell hole & in truth the majority were then in favour of closure.Thatcher & her tory government tried to humiliate us & when she enters the gates of hell there'll be one hell of a celebration.The Notts miners are always regarded as the biggest traitors but i reckon the Old bill & Hauliers were equally as bad, they used to flash their wad of notes at the miners, wankers the lot of them.

I didn't live in the area but i remember the strike well. But the sad thing was the strike was never about the Miners is was about power crazed Union members wanting to bring down an elected Government and using the hard working and extremely proud Miners to do it. The Miners and there Families was starving and threatened with being thrown out of there homes whilst Scargill and his cronies lived in Luxury. I had only Just left School when this strike happened but my Dad worked in the same Power Station as i do now and the Miners picketed the gates to the Power Station.

The sad thing was they expected the Power workers to not cross the picket lines but it was not there battle,and again no one should ever try to bring down an elected Government EVER !! What would the state of this Country be if they had succeeded and the fact with Power workers i could not go on strike, without Electricity what would happen to Hospitals or your Mothers house if there was no power to keep them warm i would not want there Deaths on my conscience.

Since the Miners strike the Miners all but damn it lost there jobs but Scargill and there kind has lived in luxury ever since and when that evil fucker dies i will have one smile on my face. In truth yeah i give the scab chant as a piss-take but i wasn't one of those Miners and i wasn't starving , i wasn't the one watching my Kids starve. I wasn't the one who had to watch as your family was being thrown into the street so i will never blame the Nottingham Miners for breaking the strike. Being a teen at the time it was yeah hope the Miners win being a rebellious time and thinking the strike was about fairness to the Miners then you realise the Union Leaders could not give two shits for the Miners or there Family's it was an attempt to bring down the Government and install a Marxist one instead.

Nuclearblue, Thatcher planned the strike twelve months in advance & cornered Scargill by conveniently having a leaked document that earmarked 70 pits for closure,built up stockpiles at the Power stations & timed it at the begining of spring. The bitch did'nt care about the suffering of people & now there's people who hopes she suffers, i hope it's a long drawn out painfull process, what goes around comes around.

Nuclearblue, Thatcher planned the strike twelve months in advance & cornered Scargill by conveniently having a leaked document that earmarked 70 pits for closure,built up stockpiles at the Power stations & timed it at the begining of spring. The bitch did'nt care about the suffering of people & now there's people who hopes she suffers, i hope it's a long drawn out painfull process, what goes around comes around.

I agree Scargill played straight into Thatchers hands and they was as bad as one another. She was callous enough to totally destroy the Miners but Scargill had one plan and one plan only to topple a Government. It doesn't matter how much you hate a particular government you cant bring down an elected Government. Yes she knew the Unions was preparing to try to topple her so she was ready,stock piling ETC but at the end of it Scargill in the end was the Miners enemy.

Lions led by donkeys.

Scargil's ridiculous left wing attitude destroyed UK mining.

Some still say that it was Thatcher but all she did was try to talk some sense into the clowns, could have been settled in the first few months which most of the south wales miners wanted, but no that prick tried to bring the whole country to its knees. A new era under Thatcher though, times had changed people began to appreciate that if, despite years of labour socialism crap, you stood up for yourself, used your brain then you could actually do something, see the world, have a reasonable life.

Perhaps the lefties should seek the cabinet documents that John Major put under the two year rule which Blair and his socialist rehabs reclassified to 30 year.

Willy the Wombat, would you have had the guts to refer to the miners at the the time has Donkeys? I put good money on it you would'nt have & if you did you'd be pushing up Daisies.

@BluebirdOver

I understand feelings are high on this subject mate bit with comments like
that you are just adding fuel to the fire for people who say that the Minors
and Unions bullies some of their colleagues into striking.

Willy the Wombat, would you have had the guts to refer to the miners at the the time has Donkeys? I put good money on it you would'nt have & if you did you'd be pushing up Daisies.

Chief you read the post wrong and i thinks you owe Willy an apology. He quite clearly says the Lions was the Miners and the donkeys was the Union leaders

Listen here, matey....

You effectively weren't there....as you clearly state!!

The miners went on strike because of the threat to the industry from Margaret Thatcher and her cronies, which included the American McGregor who later fecked up the steel industry....

During the long miners strike whole towns, valleys and communities 'stuck together' in a show of defiance and solidarity; the like of which the modern generation cannot begin to comprehend....

Things really were different then and the mining community were out to look after each other and to do their best to ensure that they and their children had a future to look forward to....

SOME (and it was not many) decided to 'go back' to work even in Wales. To say they were ostricised is an understatement and there are still communities and family members who do not/will not speak to their own brothers, friends and neighbours as a direct result of 'strike-breaking' at the time....

People actually died as a direct result of hostilities. History will show the infamous 'bridge' incident in Merthyr Tydfil....

That it (the miners strike) ultimately failed was not wholly down to the miners themselves but to their self-interested leaders, a pretty determined 'Iron Lady' at the helm of the SS Government and the whole-hearted support she got from the British Constabulary who made money hand over fist whilst getting the opportunity for a good old 'ruck' at the same time....

It was brutal at times, in the extreme....

The Nottingham miners refused point blank to support their national colleagues; deciding instead to 'look after No.1' and fall for the Government promises that their pits would be saved and modernised....

It was bollocks, of course, but they (Notts mainers) fell for it and in doing so helped ensure the strikes elsewhere went on for a year....

OUR miners (and their families/communities that really pulled together) had absolutely NOTHING but their pride at the end of the strike, even though for most life would NEVER be the same again....

The politics of their leaders was an issue in itself BUT WHAT CANNOT BE DENIED is that the miners of Great Britain (Nottingham apart) and in particular Yorkshire and Wales can be immensely proud of their conduct during those mad sad times and can at least hold their heads high....

The same CANNOT be said of the Nottinghamshire SCABS that crossed Picket Lines and earned very good money whilst their coal-mining comerades from around the country stuck together against the odds and whilst starving....

Some (like me) were VERY lucky. During the early 1980's there was massive unemployment and the mines were still seen as a good employer where skills for life could be learned. They still had their own college in Treforest and to obtain an apprenticeship there was a bit of a coup for the youngsters leaving school....

Like many others of my generation, I could have taken one of those apprenticeships (or maybe one with British Rail or BT or another 'nationalised' company) only to find myself out of a job a couple of years later. Instead, through fate, I chose another route and I am still empoyed by the same organisation as I was then. But I digress....

They say time heals, but that is to insult the memories of those who gave so much for ultimately so little....

Nottingham miners and their like?? SCABS indeed....!!

I was in the military at the time of the strike. Practically all servicing personal hated the communism and it was one of our arguments why we served. Yes money was perhaps the biggest argument, Maggy looked after us, but the communist one certainly help us shut up those civvies who said we were overpaid. Anyway, communism was what we were fighting against, very littel argument agaisnt that, so as mentioned above Scargill had communist connections resulting in us forces guys hating the strikers. There was very little sympathy for them.

I was station in Lincolnshire at the time but travelled home to South Wales quite often. I expected it to be alot more supportive for the miners back home unlike what I witnessed where I served. I was surprised to see that most people wanted the strike to end. Specially those who had coal fires and just hated the poor quality stuff that was being imported once the stockpiles had gone down. My conclusion was the the miners were on their own on this one and they were onto a loser.

The more i watched what was going on the more I saw that Scargill was the real problem for the miners. He did not give a damn for them and today still gives less. He knew he could not win that strike but was too stubborn to pull the plug. When he first saw that the mining trade was running at a lost he should have worked with the government to secure retraining for his young workforce and secure the jobs of the older workforce within the mining business. The older miners would have seen their working life out doing what they do best in the profitable pits while the younger ones would have been by now doing a futuristic trade. Scragill used these guys for his own gain and today he is doing the same.did you know that the NUM, what is left of it, has to pay for his luxury flat in London until he dies? I think its membership is down to 2,000 now, it was 140,000 at one time, and this flat is costing 25% of its subscriptions. They cant afford it yet Scargill insists they have to pay it because he was their president and it was written in the constitution that he is allowed to live in this flat for life.

The last two posts I enjoyed reading imensly even though the first one started off "listen sonny you wasn"t there " but if you was around in that time you had an opinion. Yes the Miners have this bond that will never been broken but in short in my opinion they were used. But for those ex Miners or Family's that was involved you hung on every word Scargill said and he was treated like a God. What is your views on the Man now? We know what you think of Thatcher and that is understandable but do you still think that Scargill was your true Friend. And sorry but what was that Merthyr bridge incident I would be interested to know a little more about that.

Same Nukes.

I only posted this thread cos I thought is would make good debate, which it has.

I did say in the thread that they were not necceserily my views but some of the views that were put accross when I saw this debated elsewhere recently.

I said from the offput that I wasnt there obviously but just wanted general opinion on whether any people did have any sympathy with the Nottingham workers or those who did go back to work for whatever reasons.

Obviously its a very sensetive subject and the last thing I want/wanted to do was upset anyone.

One thing is for sure, it wouldnt happen today, people would be crossing the picket line left right and centre.

And sorry but what was that Merthyr bridge incident I would be interested to know a little more about that.

A few miners, 3 in all I think, threw a paving slap or some large stone object onto a taxi car as it went under the bridge. The taxi driver died from the incident. It did not help the miners cause at all and was the worse incidence amongst all the harrassment and vandalism they caused. Scargill never came out against any of this which obviously turned the public against the miners. He was the only guy who could have done something but chose not too.