LABOR

CLC pledges £10,000

as aid to embattled
British miners grows

The Canadian Labor Congress became
the latest union federation to put economic
weight behind its support for the striking
British miners last week as international
solidarity for the embattled National Union
of Mineworkers continued to grow.

The CLC executive voted Sept. 13 to send
£10,000 (about $17,000 Cdn.) to provide
food aid for the miners who are now into
their seventh month of strike against the
attempt of the National Coal Board to close
“uneconomic” mines and throw thousands
of miners out of work.

“We are compelled to act in the name of
humanity to aid our brothers and sisters in
the mining communities in Britain,” CLC

_ president Dennis McDermott said in a
statement following the executive council
decision.

“We join with other trade union federa-
tions around the world in responding to an
appeal from the International Confedera-
tion of Free Trade Unions to help put bread
on the tables of mining families in Britain.”

The CLC action follows closely a deci-
sion by the international executive board of
the U.S. United Union of Mineworkers
which voted to donate $25,000 to the British
miners. The UMW board also decided to
send a fact-finding commission to Britain
“to report back on the actual situation in
the coal fields.”

In announcing the union donation,

UMWA president Richard Trumka declared:

“The British miners are faced with nothing
less than a union-busting situation. If the

_ NUM is destroyed, the damage that would
_ be inflicted on the UMWA and other free
’ trade unions across the United States and
~ across the world would be incalculable.

_ “The British miners supported us during
our strike in 1978 and, as fellow unionists
and fellow miners, it’s only right that we
respond in kind,” he said.

The list of solidarity actions and the trade
union federations taking them as continued

to grow weekly since the miners launched
their historic strike March 12. _

Federations in both France and Austra-
lia have embargoed any coal destined for
British ports and have launched appeals for
financial aid. Last month, the Australian
Miners Federation said that more than
$100,000 had been sent to aid the miners
while the French CGT has sent 105,000
francs (about $15,000 Cdn.).

The largest international trade union fed-
eration, the World Federaton of Trade
Unions, based in Prague, issued a major
appeal July 17 “to all workers and to all
trade union, democratic and humanitarian
organizations” for “immediate and inten-
sive solidarity and support.” The WFTU
organized a massive international collection
of non-perishable foodstuffs, destined for
miners’ families. ;

As well as other aid, the Soviet, Czechos-
lavakian and French trade unions have
organized holidays for the children of the
miners.

That is all in addition to the immense
outpouring of gifts, food and cash that has
come from the British people. The support
has startled the government of Tory Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher who brought
U.S. corporate executive Ian McGregor in
last year to initiate the mine closure pro-

’ gram, confident that with the assistance of

the British press, she could sway the public
opinion against any opposition that the mil-
itant NUM would mount.

In fact, that public support has not
materialized and instead Thatcher has
deployed against the miners the largest con-
centration of police ever used in a strike
since the British general strike of 1926.

On Sept. 3, the British Trades Union
Congress overwhelmingly gave its unequiv-
ocal support to the miners strike, reaffirm-
ing the basic principle of the sanctity of
picket lines and ban on “hot” cargo. By a
show of hands, the TUC carried the execu-

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tive’s statement for “total support” of the
NUM’’s objectives.

The huge convention gave the same mea-
sure of support to the original motion pro-
posed by the NUM but deleted from it calls
for a “day of action” in support of the
miners and a levy on other unions.

One speaker reminded delegates: “It is
not possible to have an effective industrial
dispute,and remain within the law. Tory law
is designed to outlaw effective industrial
disputes.”

Some representatives from the electri-

_ cians and the steelworkers spoke against the
TUC action to the jeers and boos of dele-
gates but when the vote was taken, 75 per
cent of those in the hall raised their hands in
support of the NUM.

NUM President Arthur Scargill himself
was given a Standing ovation when he
addressed the convention.

The congress support came at a crucial
time in the strike. Both the Thatcher
government and the right-wing British press
have launched a propaganda onslaught
against the miners as winter approaches and
coal stocks dwindle.

“Government ministers, Coal Board
officials, police chiefs, TV and newspaper

journalists are now being pitched into the
most massive anti-miner propaganda cam-
paign,” Scargill wrote in a bulletin to strik-
ers Aug. 17.

“The nearer we get to our biggest ally,
General Winter, the weaker their position,”
he wrote. “That is why they made August
the month of intense propaganda.

“But it is not winter alone that is coming

. to our aid: Other unions are recognizing

that the whole industrial scene is shifting.

“Railmen, dockers, printers, teachers,
health workers and others are joining with
the miners in the recognition that yes, there
is an enemy within,” said Scargill, using the
same phrase that Thatcher herself had used
to attack the miners.

That enemy “‘is the enemy which creates
unemployment and mass poverty,” he
emphasized, “but it is one which — if we
stand together — can be defeated.”

“The miners of Britain, their wives, fami-
lies, whole communities have ignited the
beacon of resistance.”

Canadians wishing to send letters of sup-
port or donations to the miners should
direct them to: Miners’ Solidarjty Fund, St.
James’ House, Vicar Lane, Sheffield, United
Kingdom. ;

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 19, 1984 e 11