North West Miners Support Group) TRADE unionists, unemployed workers, pensioners and students from all over Lancashire will be participating in the North West March For Jobs from 17-20 June. The march has been given added significance by the events last week at Parkside colliery.
If the likes of the BBC and Tory press are to be believed, then Friday 4 June saw the end of a mining tradition in Lancashire stretching back almost to the beginning of the industrial revolution. The headline of local BBC TV coverage was 'Parkside miners sign away their jobs.' What cynicism! 4.
The reality is that more than 500 miners at Parkside, who have been among the most defiant in face of closures, did not consider themselves able single-handedly to hold out against closures, especially when they have been abandoned by the TUC and Labour leaderships. So they reluctantly accepted compulsory redundancy terms. None of them accepted voluntary redundancy voluntarily.
But a Magnificent Six, led by NUM executive member Billy Pye, have refused to sign altogether. As result of their action, the deadline for accepting voluntary redundancy was extended to Monday 7 June. When the failed to sign they were sacked - the first compulsory redundancies since the nationalisation in 1947.
Billy Pye and his colleagues are determine to fight on. On Thursday 10 June they will install an NUM Portakabin outside the pit, decked with a red flag, opposite the Womens Camp.
Both they and many who accepted redundancy are continuing the campaign by Printed by Tridant Press Ltd, Edenbridge Kent. Published by Idolrare Led, PO Box 1109. London, N4 2UU