South Yorkshire Times, May 30, 1942

Coalfield Unrest

Unrest expressed in an outbreak of lightning strikes is not confined to the South Yorkshire coalfield. The miners are restless, and it is to be hoped that the Government’s comprehensive policy for the solution of the fuel problem will prevent a spread of the dangerous discontent which has characterised the recent outlook of the men employed in the industry.

Time has quickly proved the wisdom of the Government in tackling the problem as a whole instead of satisfying themselves with a fuel rationing order. Whether it will ultimately transpire that they have the measure of the internal as well as external needs of the industry remains to be demonstrated. The lightning strike has nothing to commend it at the best of times, and most certainly cannot be condoned in time of war. The irresponsible element among the mineworkers who provoke these stoppages do harm to a case for which there is something to be said. Such strikes serve only to alienate public opinion and to irritate and antagonise those who are disposed to support many of the contentions advanced by the miners.

There is no gainsaying the disparity between wages paid for unskilled labour in the mines and in many of the other war industries. It is idle to pretend that some of the preposterous pay sheets of the munition workers are merited by longer hours or greater skill. The inconsistency of propaganda which on the one hand seeks to assure the miners that theirs is the basic munitions industry while on the other hand the wages plums go to workers in other industries who have received only a few weeks’ training, is obvious.

To send men from the factories back to the pits, where they work under less congenial conditions for materially lower wages, is not calculated to make contented workmen of them. To have pit boys earning not much more than half their own sisters can earn on munitions is not likely to increase their incentive or enhance their self-respect. These and other anomalies are upsetting the rhythm of the industry, and something should be done to iron them out before the consequences become more serious. These are some of the considerations which have led the Mineworkers’ Federation to place before the coal owners a request for a substantial advance in wages, with a higher guaranteed minimum wage.

After setting its face relentlessly against profiteering it is astounding that the Government should have countenanced the disproportionately high wages which are being paid for some classes of war work. The last war provided a classic example of the evils of such a system, and yet here we are in the toils once more. Youths hardly out of their teens and women with the qualification of brief routine training are not infrequently able to earn more than skilled workmates engaged in the same industry. A combination of repetitive dexterity and the bonus system makes this possible, while the skilled worker must stick to his lathe or his pick without commensurate reward.

This rankles with the miner more than most. He feels that the dirt and danger of his job entitle him at any rate to equal consideration and he cannot be blamed unduly for taking this view. But in choosing a method by which to draw attention to his position he must not presume on the patience of the public. Strikes, war and coal rationing are an ill-assorted trio, and while the second two may he inevitable, public opinion will never be persuaded of the present necessity of the first.