Letters

Jimmy Reid's reply

Sir: In last week's Spectator Mr Peter Heathfield, secretary of the National Un- ion of Mineworkers, promised 'to correct two glaring errors of fact' in my article Barnsley's Lenin' of 13 October. I wrote: `A pit in Yorkshire was closed in Decem- ber 1979 after being taken through the national appeals procedure because it was uneconomic. At that time, the president of the NUM in Yorkshire was Arthur Scar- gill.'

This, Mr Heathfield asserts, is a glaring error: 'No pit in Yorkshire was closed on economic grounds during Arthur Scargill's presidency in that area. In December 1979, Rockingham colliery was closed on grounds of geology.'

Alas, Mr Heathfield has got his pits in a twist. I was referring to Walton colliery. This was a pit sunk in 1890. In April 1979 the NCB proposed to close it. From 1974-79 it had lost £15 million and was employing 550 men.

The proposed closure went through the colliery review procedures and reached national level. The pit was reprieved fol- lowing a personal appeal to Derek Ezra from Joe Gormley.

As I stated in my article, the pit was closed in December 1979. It was losing £140 per ton.

The Walton branch of the NUM voted two to one to accept closure and those who Wanted to continue working in the coal industry were transferred to other pits in North Yorkshire and Selby. There was still Plenty of coal at Walton in what was known as Stanley Main seam. It was, however, terribly expensive to mine. The actual reprieve was based on the trial working of one coal face. Arthur Scargill argued that if it could be worked successfully then the NUM would demand that the pit be kept open and other faces developed. On the other hand, if not a success, he agreed that the union would accept the inevitability of closure. The facts are there for anyone to re- search, but more to the point Mr Scargill is quoted as saying all this in the Wakefield Express of 7 December 1979.

My second 'error' according to Mr Heathfield is claiming that in January 1983 a strike took place at the NUM's former London headquarters during which Arthur Scargill continued working while his employees picketed outside.'

This, according to Mr Heathfield, is Totally untrue. There was never any such strike, nor any picketing of the union's former headquarters.'

Alas, once again for Mr Heathfield, his informants have fed him misinformation. On 8 January 1983 the Times reported:

`Head office staff at the National Union of Mineworkers walked out on strike yester- day as their union officials laid before Mr Arthur Scargill, NUM President, a list of complaints about their treatment by him and his executive.'

Mr Paul Noble, head of the NUM's industrial relations department, was quoted as saying: 'The relationship with our employer can only be described as akin to those which existed in the 19th century with pit owners.'

The walkout lasted for four hours and only ended when John Varley and Trevor Bell conveyed to the strikers certain assur- ances. If that is not a strike than what is it? To put it as kindly as I can — Peter is being fed a lot of glaring inaccuracies.

Jimmy Reid

Daily Record,

Glasgow