computerised threat to
Coal Board's jobs SINCE 1979 the Working Environment Research Group at Bradford impact it bes bechnology in coll
Anew technology in coal mining. An Interim Report was prepared for the NUM executive in September 1982 and published in November 1983. Throughout 1983 educational day schools and weekend schools were organized nationally and by several area unions. Second Report presented to the NUM executive in July 1984.
This article concentrates upon the analysis rather than the technical descriptions contained in the two reports and highlights the relevance of technology to the restructuring programme which has caused the present strike. MINOS - an overview.
Following the two national mining strikes of the 1970s, the NCB designed MINOS (Mine Operating System), a highly centralized, hierarchically oraanized computer monitoring and control system. MINOS does not entail any new mining technology but is, rather, designed to organize and control existing methods of mining. The NCB's operations have been broken down into manageable subsystems to enable the automation to proceed, and each subsystem can be implemented independently, while remaining compatible with other subsystems. Before the strike, about 80 pits were known to have at least one MINUS facility, but the first complete MINOS installation was expected to be Barnsley West Side complex, centred on Woolley. The modular design of MINOS has enabled the NCB to install subsystems in a piecemeal fashion and this has made it difficult for the NUM to monitor technological change. MINOS includes subsystems devoted to coal clearance, environmental monitoring, coal preparation and other colliery operations, but four subsystems deserve particular consideration because they demonstrate clearly the NCB's design objectives. FIDO - Face Information Digested Online.
The Board discovered that one third of the available cutting time in a shift was lost through delays caused
By Jonathan Winterton by faceworkers taking natural breaks, and a further third was lost through mechanical breakdowns. FIDO is designed to remove the so-called "avoidable delays" by monitoring the work of face teams. FIDO operates like a tacograph subjecting face teams to management surveillance that was formerly impossible. If successful, FIDO could double machine running time. IMPACT - In-built Machine Performance And Condition Testing.
Aimed at removing operational and ancillary delays by monitoring "machine health". Mechanization and power loading increased the technical complexity of mining and created the need for an adquate number of skilled craftsmen. By the 1970s twenty per cent of the workłorce were craftsmen. The NCB now wishes to reduce the number oi craftsmen and to simplify the task oi maintenance in line with the recommendations of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) report on the NCB (1983). Since September 1982 the NCB has been reviewino the numbers of craftsmen and area industrial relations officers have circulated colliery managers with instructions to reduce "overmanning" Socialist Viewpoint, No. 3, February 1985. Page 9
MIDAS - Machine Information Display and Automation System. MIDAS has both a monitoring and a control function. The control function is concerned with the vertical guidance of the shearer so that it does not cut into the roof or the floor. MIDAS monitors the conditions of the shearer; eventually the information will be passed to the MINOS control computer and from there into the management information system. As with IMPACT, deskilling is an intentional objective of MIDAS: these two subsystems are directed at key groups within the union - face workers and crattsmen. The 1mmediate effect of MIDAS is on the level of output; prototype systems have doubled output per shift. The combined effect of FIDO, IMPACT, and MIDAS could enable the NCB to reduce the number of working faces given static demand for coal, and faceworkers will be exposed to more dust as machine running time is increased. MIS - Management Information System.
This links the subsystems together into the overall system: the colliery MIS feeds its information into a na-
tional computer network that allows the NCB to compare performance over time, between collieries, and between shifts, between faces, between areas. Planning and control can thus be exercised rapidly directly from the highest levels management. "uneconomic pits" can be identified according to the criteria in force at any particular time, and the list can be revised at a moment's notice should different criteria be applied. At pit level, management monitor the performance of particular face teams over a period of time and could use this information to operate a "blue eye" system. Concentration of capacity.
The present strike was prompted ominating high an attempt to
cost" pits and concentrating production "super pits". As more pit complexes are opened with their enormous productive capacity more pits are defined as uneconomic because they are surplus capacity unless the market for coal is increased. There is also a real threat of privatization of the modernized pit complexes. MMC Report recommendation of independent accounting for NCB areas and CEGB demands for coal at pithead prices could be seen as the first steps in this direction.
I'he plans will entail a massive jot loss. The losses will be uneven bet ween the areas because investment in new technology has been concen-
Computer technology threatens to destroy and de-skill more mining jobs. trated in the Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Jobs will be lost from reorganization and automation in these and super pits created will much coal that they will and of the whole of coalfields": Scotland, Durham and So-called South Wales in particular. For exam- ple, Selby alone will produce 10-12.5 million tonnes workforce of 3,500-4,000; the whole of South Wales and Scotland produce 13.5 million tonnes per year with can 39,000 miners. 1982 we estimated that between 55% and 74% of mining jobs were at risk. It is now clear that MIDAS and IM- PACT have been successful in reduc- ing the operational and ancillary delays, something we did not take in- continue to account in our earlier estimates: the "best case" estimate of jobs at risk on the becomes 74%, while the complete elimination of all delays would result in 83% of jobs being at riks. estimates of job losses reter to the 1981 employment levels so that a 74% job loss would leave an industry of 59,999 workers, while an 83% job The loss would leave an industry of 38,000 workers. estimates suggests that the restructur- ing programme will enable present output to be maintained with 49,000 jobs. Mining Programme reviewed with the intention of bring- ing together separate developments:
'"central coalfield" of shield but the areas, produce so jeopardise "peripheral the nes 91,000 a year with per In our Interim Report of September Assuming the The degenerated. Taking the mid-point of the two ed with The Advanced Technology was recently Socialist Viewpoint, No. 3, February 1985. Page 10
supports electrohydraulic support control,, face alignment, anc MIDAS, with the overall objective of a two-man faceline in 1987.
From reorganisation alone the industry would have 93 pits plus the Selby complex producing 93.6m ton-
mine The and employing miners. productivity gains from the extension of MINOS are expected to reduce employmeni to 79,000 by 1987/88. The employment projections shown in Figure 2 are consistent with projections made by the NUM and in our earlier report.
present rate of progress is maintained, the programme to reduce employment to 49,000 will be achieved in the calendar year 1989. It should not be forgotten that 41,000 jobs have disappeared from mining since 1981. Role of the Incentive Scheme
The Area Incentive Schemes (AIS) are intimately linked with FIDO since delays of 20 minutes or less reduce the bonus paid: face workers either stop taking natural breaks or sutter a loss of earnings. Moreover, since it was first introduced the AIS has
Under the original scheme increased effort was reward-
proportional increases in bonus. Bnus payments have not been adjusted in line with basic pay, so the scheme has become regressive; a 25% increase in effort is now rewarded with a bonus representing less than 20% of standard earnings. The average weekly bonus pay for face
workers in 1983 was £40-96; it would have been £56-40 had the scheme not degenerated. High earners like some in the Nottinghamshire area would have earned another £25 per week over the past year.
A recent study of the bonus payments in Yorkshire revealed dif. ferences in weekly bonus earnings oi up to £67 within each of the four Yorkshire areas, and over the whole coalfield ranged from £16 to £103, a range of + 36% to -15% on the national average earnings for 1983. The NUM concluded that since the NCB are aware of the disorder of internal differentials in the Yorkshire coalfield the sheme is being used as a lure to facilitate labour mobility between pits to speed up the closure programme. One consequence of the bonus variations is that surface workers at a high productivity pit receive more in bonus pay than face workers at neighbouring pits. Shortcomings of NCB Policy.
There are two major technical weaknesses of the concentration broduction into pit-compiexes The irst 15 that all highly centralised operations are more vulnerable to disruption than decentralized ones. The second stems from the nature of the industry itself. Automated manufacturing systems require a consistency and uniformity of inputs, particularly raw materials. The working conditions in mines are notoriousthrough the skill and experience of unpredictable and it the workforce that production continues unhindered. An industry with a reduced and unskilled workforce and automated machinery is likely to run into serious problems in maintaining production. The concentration of production in the "central coalfield not only brings technical problems, but has important strategic implications for future industrial development. There are currently reserves of about 300 years supply of coal spread through all of the coal fields. Once mining operaions have ceased and pits have clos• ed the reserves have electively beer "sterilised" because it is impossible to return to areas where the geology has been affected by the collapse of workings. Thus the reserves of coal available to the nation may be reduced by giving precedence to short term profitability, a practice condemned by Schumacher when economic advisor the the NCB. Alternative Strategy for Coal
A Miners' Plan for Coal must confront the restructuring programme and recognise the central role of technology. Pressure for a new technology agreement grew out of a motion from South Kirby which was accepted national conference 1983.
The union's policy on new technology now centres on the drait New Technology Agreement, which the NCB have so far refused to discuss; Mr. Dunn, NCB Director
General of Mining, said that negotiation over new technology was "not appropriate" (Newsnight, February substitute shorter veering time a to 1984). The agreement seeks to earlier retirement for the job losses that will otherwise result from increased labour productivity. The agreement also seeks to prevent worker surveillance, maintain autonomy and improve working conditions. In countries like Sweden and Norway that have Work Environment Acts, worker surveillance through computer monitoring systems is forbidden because it is an infringement of personal liberty and damaging to workers' health.
The contradictions exposed in the restructuring demonstrate the need for a rational energy policy based on a consideration of the UK's energy needs into the next century rather than on short-term financial criteria The policies pursued by the NCB anc the Government represent a denial of our responsibility to future generations that cannot be justified on moral Fixing timber props at the turn of the century. Socialist Viewpoint, No. 3, February 1985. Page 11
or economic grounds.
In summary, an alternative strategy for coal should entail six elements: 1. Harbour coal resources
through limiting the rate of introduction and exploitation of new capacity to the rate of exhaustion of high cost pits. 2. Negotiate a New Technology
Agreement to reduce working time, eliminate computer-based work monitoring, and improve the working environment. Consolidate incentive pay into basic rate to eradicate inequities between effort and reward. 4. Expand coal demand through
Combined Heat and Power Schemes, fluidized bed combustion, substitution of coal for imported fuels, liquefaction and use as chemical feed stock. 5. Halt the nuclear energy pro-
gramme; it is unnecessary, expensive and unsafe. 6. Subsidize coal in recognition
Cof its strategic importance to the economy.
Statement by sacked Cowley deputy convenor
BL bid to smash union AUSTIN Rover management have carried out another