The miners' strike - 25 years on

Mar 1 2009 by Michael Kelly, Sunday Sun

History shows strike was right

WHAT has happened to their industry since the end of the strike in March 1985 is proof the miners were right, according to NUM official Dave Hopper.

Mr Hopper said: "Events have shown who was right and who was wrong. Fifty per cent of power stations are still fired by coal but now it’s foreign coal. A great disservice was done to the community.

"People are shouting now about protecting British jobs yet we were British miners."

Mr Hopper claims the repercussions are being felt by the community at large not just in economic terms.

He said: "It’s a sad state of affairs now, the unemployment, the drugs, the breakdown in social values and discipline which at one time was really good. Mining communities were good places to live and be brought up in.

"That is the responsibility of the people who closed these coal mines. It was a bad, bad decision, a terrible way to reward the communities for their contribution during two world wars and the industrial revolution."

Mr Hopper is as convinced as he was back in 1984 it was a political decision to close the mines.

He said: "It was a very vindictive campaign to smash organised labour. Trade unionism has suffered since."

And some North East communities have never recovered from the hammer blow of the pit closures.

Mr Hopper said: "We have a low wage economy in the North East. Many people cannot get jobs with meaningful wages, buy a house, bring up a family. There’s been a great social backlash."

Speaking about the strike overall he commented: "It was worth it. We fought for our jobs and our community. The NUM is still here, the Miners’ Gala is still going strong and we’ve played a big role in miners compensation claims.

"It was a year I wouldn’t have liked to have missed. The events of that year probably helped you to be a better person, helped your resolve. Everybody must have learnt a lot about themselves.

"We were called the enemy within by Thatcher. That was a disgrace. If ever there was an enemy without, it was her."