by Dafydd Rhys. MINERS AT Tower colliery, the last deep mine in South Wales, voted to resist closure of their pit which would mean the loss of 250 jobs in an area suffering 17% unemployment, with male unemployment at 31%.
Tyrone O'Sullivan, chair of Tower Lodge NUM said, "This is a tremendous ballot result, under intensive management pressure, which shows the Tower men feel that jobs in the future are more important than the quick-fix of redundancy.
We hope people will now rally to Tower and give us the support we need to push back British Coal. We hope our stand will help to start a fight back against unemployment and for all the low paid and unemployed in Britain.' Tower colliery will now go into the government's review procedure, but as Tyrone explained, 'We know the review won't deliver the goods on its own: what it will do is buy us time to campaign against closure. Our immediate aim is to force British Coal to restart production at the £21,000 Appeal Fund O.K. We know you've just been hit by tax-rises - if you're lucky enough to have a job. And you've got to pay VAT on your fuel bills.
But we're going to ask you for money anyway. Because we can't think of a better way of spending your cash than giving it to us.
Never mind false modesty - Socialist Outlook is the best pawe have to say.
While others supported the fight against pit closures when the campaign was at its height we have stayed the distance. Our supporters in Lancashire and Wales continue to play an active role at Parkside and Tower pits.
On international coverage we fare second to none. This issue HOME NEWS alone brings you exclusive material from Palestine and Italy.
Our analysis of the break-up of former Yugoslavia is way ahead of anyone else. Through InternaItional Workers' Aid we have organised concrete support for the people of Bosnia.
Wine a voice through Liberation!, the only socialist youth paper We want to be able to continue all these things and more.
But that costs money. We need to raise £21,000 over the next few months. business gave us a hand-out but they won't.
So we are asking you, our readers, to show your contempt for Tory tax increases and VAT on fuel by RUSH cheques, postal orders or surplus jewelry to PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. Butchering last pit in Wales: Heseltine pit.' Tower was one of the 19 'core pits' guaranteed a future by Heseltine's review. Last October British Coal (BC) announced a cut of nearly half a million tons in Tower coal supplied to Aberthaw power station. When the Lodge refused to accept the 250 redundancies, BC demanded all bonuses were cut until the target was met. 200 men were forced to leave before Christmas.
February saw a further cut in coal supplied to Aberthaw and Pressure was further increased with the announcement that the redundancy terms on offer would end on April 30. The closure announcement was a logical step in the continued run down of the pit over the last six months.
The Tories want to destroy the unity and militancy of Tower colliery NUM, which stands like a beacon in the sea of union collaboration and capitulation in South Wales. It is no small irony that the most militant South Wales pit in the 1984-5 strike is the only one to remain open.
The government plans to sell off the coal industry area by area.
Tower will be sold as part of a package. Such a large investment is out of the reach of Tower management who would like to buy the pit. By closing it before privatisation they hope to buy it out alone.
Hence the ploy of deliberately more mine ene Hunger strikes THE NUMBERS of immigration prisoners on hunger strike has considerably reduced since the UK's largest ever hunger strike started on March 11.
At Campsfield, six strikers are now in their fifth week of taking only sugarless liquids. Others, dispersed from Campsfield, continue in their new detention centres.
The strikers have successfully in drawn attention to the trebling of immigration detentions within the last year.
Media coverage and an adjournment debate in the House of Commons have followed demonstrations of support outside Campsfield, Winson Green, Exeter, Hull and other prisons and through a letter to Major signed by 100 Oxford academics.
The government has taken a 'get tough' turn. Two Algerians given temporary admission have been re-arrested. One had spoken out publicly at a demonstration at coal while spending large amounts of money on the pit in the month before the closure announcement.
The decision to fight the closure is a tribute to Tower Lodge NUM who have campaigned tirelessly in defence of the coal industry. We must make every effort to deliver the support they deserve and ensure a reversal of the closure decision. A vigorous campaign will now be launched by the Lodge which all trade unions, Labour Party branches and Miners' Support Groups are urged to support.
Messages of support to: Tyrone O'Sullivan, Tower Lodge NUM, Tower Colliery, Hirwaun, Mid Glamorgan. Tel:
0685 811199.
fight detentions Campsfield and on TV. The basic demand for at least temporary admission has yet to be won.
Group 4 attempts to restrict demonstrations at Campsfield have met with limited success. Numbers are the key. Support is needed (Saturdays, 12.30pm -particularly 30th April). • A vital step in this struggle will be the NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION on SATURDAY 4th JUNE.
(11am, St. Giles, Oxford -feeder march); 1pm Exeter Hall car park, Kidlington (main march assembly); 2pm rally at Posters and leaflets are available - Tel: 0865 724452.
Money is urgently needed to fund this work. Please send donations to Campaign to Close Campsfield, c/o 111 Magdalen Rd, Oxford. The BNP has failed to return the nomination papers taken out for their candidate in the Noddle Hill ward in Hull City Council elections in May. This is a victory for the work done by anti-fascists in the ward over the last few weeks.
However the National Front is standing a candidate in the Ings ward in East Hull. This is the first time for years that fascists have stood in the city. The ward is a traditional Labour seat.
Socialist Outlook supporters are arguing that. the official campaign materials should be explicitly anti-racist and anti-fascist.
Despite support from rank and file members, this is unlikely to happen as those in control of the election machine and the Labour candidate are part of the right wing old guard.
Outlook supporters have also successfully argued for the local trades council to mount a vigorous campaign against the fascists. Teams of trade unionists will be mobilised to canvass in the ward and links are being built with local community groups.
The first organising meeting was held Thursday 7 April and the meeting was well attended, constructive and representative.
The campaign includes local trade unionists, the ANL, YRE and community activists. Mass leafleting, canvassing and a public meeting will all be happening in the ward.
Isending us a donation to help make Socialist Out- look even brighter and better.
BNP bottle out - NF to stand in Hull