undermines UDM the sit-in leaders, which was obtained within a record 48 hours - far faster than any of the comparable legal moves at St Loenard's, South London enough to withstand this onslaught, and the DHA began to bundle the elderly patients from New End with management ruthlessness — to incarcerate them in their new living quarters on the 7th floor of the concrete and glass Royal
Free Hospital.
first six patients evidence on the 7th floor - a ceiling was being painted in one ward and a beds were in the corridors.
Patients arrived by wheelchair and sat beside their bed bewildered and confused. No doctor was present on the ward to examine them.
Supper for the six finally arrived at UDM leaders have proven once again that their "union's" days are numbered by their failure to mount any opposition to the closure of Hacknall colliery in their Notts heartland.
1,250 UDM jobs are to go, while UDM General Secretary Roy Lynk claims that
. Already Britrish Coal management is targetting the pits in Nottinghamshire that it will similarly "not
The UDM was never in any position to take action over the Hucknall closure: its very foundation was as a body of scabs opposed to strike action and defence of pit jobs. The UDM rules in themselves stifle
There must be a ballot for any action. This must then be ratified by their NEC.
You must not approach other sections for support. By the time you have got permission to strike, the issue will have gone cold. That is the idea.
The rules of the UDM are, as far as local
The UDM's positions on major issues are also geared to avoiding any fight with the
It supports nuciear power, inviting the Chairman of the guest to the UDM Conference.
*It favours two year pay deals in which UDM leaders snatch at the first offer made. management in the victimisation of NUM
The UDM was officialy set up in late involved: Notts, South Derbyshire, and the nurses. It was 45 minutes late explanation being that "when these wards 6pm suppers Relatives of patients have told the committee that they have not been information as to when moves would take place. The ward is still bleak and undecorated.
transter of patients to closed wards at the Royal Free effectively cuts 25 per cent of Hampstead's acute beds and will have a major cumulative waiting lists even while Norman Fowler claims to be reducing
The High Court's rubber stamp for the closure simply sets the seal on an NHS strucure in which only the most hollow charade of democracy has pressure from cash limits is now
A Lancashire miner looks at the emergence and gloomy future of the UDM as a bosses' union in a climate of closures. Dust sobs there. header a letters
Ken Toon and David White. When Notts and South Derbyshire formed the UDM the CWAT was quick to
Breakaway elements from Lancashire were sent into the CWAT to prop up ts every dwindling numbers. The UDM was very confident that Leicester would join Midlands, and two pits and a workshop in THE UDM has roots in previous treachery by Notts miners, during the great strike oi 1926. A certain Labou MP. called Spencer, decided thal enough was enough, and Notts miners should go back to work. He set up an alterntive union with the assistance of
Members loyal to the MFGB were blacked and were not given work by the coal owners. The Spencer union did not reign long. Through its lack of potency to fight for wages, conditions and against closures the union had to negotiate its way back into the main union for protection of its members.
With the disbandment of the Spencer union, a trust fund was set up using about £1.000,000 left from the "union" funds. This trust fund - to Socialist Viewpoint No. 14 November-December 1986 p30 hacking back at vital Reespective flocal opinion, patient and the impact Elsewhere, there are signs that the fightback is gathering strength.
against the planned closure of the
West London hospital by Riverside
DHA has gained strength from the retreat earlier in the year by Barney
Hayhoe, who shelved proposals to close the Westminster Hospital for
(well justified) fear that it
Fulham by-election.
And on Monday November 10 an demonstration centred on London's Bethlem Maudsley hospitals will take up the general issue of health cuts in London cantis and the Midlands
But Leiceser voted to stay national even after the NCB tried to bribe their General Secretary to join. Only one pit in the Midlands joined. Both pits and the workshop in Lancashire voted to stay
These losses were all body blows to the membership of 40,000 was never seriously believed by anybody but themselves. Just atter their formation their numbers were
The rule book of the UDM is a mix of old and new rules. Some of the rules have been copied straight from the NUM rule book, but new rules have been brought in to prevent disputes he officials of the UDM are Genera Secretary Roy i ynk, President Ken Toon, Vice President George Hunter.. Other which the NCB pays somethings like a couple of pence for every tonne of coal wound in Notts - was administered by Notts Area union officals and NCB representatives.
Every year, Notts miners receive a nominal payment from the fund. Also many union officials receive expenses and gifts from the fund, which is now called the "Workmen's Allocation Fund". A copy of a cheque from the tund to Roy Lynk (UDM President) for a sum of f500 is one example the NUM have been able to get hold of.
The fund has alwasy been shrouded in secrecy and very few miners knew of its existence before the '84-85 strike. Only the trustees and board of management of the fund are allowed access to its books.