Miner and member of Bold NUM, rom prison last Friday 19 April, after serving three months for causing damage to a motor vehicle at a nass picket outside Goldthorpe colliery. He is one f 70 miners sacked by the Coal Board during this ispute.
peted out by the courts and the Coal Board to iners who stood by the policy of their union and pught for their jobs and communities and points put that the NCB, at the moment, has the and' in the pits.
WAS found guilty of ausing damage to a motor chicle belonging trike breaker. Three of us harge myself, John McGrath, Alan Cowley.
There was mass acket at Golborne colliery Lancashire. A car was There was some looped. amage done in the crush ui the police came in with ich squads and arrested • people.
At first we were chargwith breach of the peace much aler We were rged criminal I:'s hard to believe that was just a coincidence the three miners arged Will the most erious offence came from old Colliery.
Bold achieved proriety in Lancashire as Anhur Scargill's ronghold'. The KOlO ckets were under consroughout the country.
three were harged arious offence.
We elected to be tried Bolton je all pleaded not guilty.
was released Despite MacGregor having said that these Dennis below tells of the 'justice' that is being 'whip ted while I received a three month custodial sentence.
immediately launch ed an appeal. My grounds for appeal were that one of the jurors was a working miner. I had objected to Delig LICu Bolton because of its close proximity to Agecrott collierv which in Lancashire was the main pit that retused to join the strike.
Many miners work at Agecroft and live in the Bolton area. Both councils in the trial assured us that the normal procedure was no interestea would be allowed to serve — this did not on lne jury nappen.
My solicitor only learnt after the trial when the juror in question applied for expenses and he stated his profession as a miner.
We also learnt that on the same day as my trial had taken place, February, preparations another judge and council were being made IN BOLO COWE COUL IO another trial concerning an oftence committed during the miners' dispute.
The judge in question advised the jury members before they were sworn in that if any of them had any connection with the mining industry that this would sway their objective judgement they should stand down. Four of them did. The jury had been drawn from the same panel as my At the Court of Appeal, Cast callic Chief Justice of England Lord Lane Lord stated that 'bias of a juror grounds for unfair trial'.
My council, Mr Mansfield QC, toid the judges that I'd been dismissed although I had a good work record and that there was terness in the area as a resuit of mv dismissal.
I am the only miner to have been dismissed in the Lancashire coalfield. Other miners have been convicted served sentences for more serious crimes and they have not been dismissed.
He argued • that my dismissal was a torm of double punishment by the Coal Board The judge replied that the Appeal Court was not an industrial tribunal.
He deemed the sentence of three months for an offence moderale gravily was nol over-harsh.
My appeal was thereby dismissed both on the grounds of conyiction and on grounds of sentencing.
In prison 1 received only three letters a week. lot of my correspondance was stopped by the prison officers.
They treated me much Ine same as ne der mates but a lot of them were ex-serv centu they seemed to think that the miners were led by the 'demon king' Arthur Scargill as if we couldn't think for ourselves.
One of them said to me suggesing 1 as a com suggesting I was a munist Partv member ottence itself!
much that editorial.
Since Pse Friday 09 last Friday April, I've realised that the wives support groups and associated support groups and that SUlU aCuve they've diverted their attention to amnesty and the support of the imprisoned men's tamilles This campaign will ensure that men will not be forgotten with the politicisation of women in this dispute the international links that made have been one of the big gains for the NUM I have been requested by Belgium members of the Fourth International to participate in the May Day march in Brussels. visited Belgium last Осtober very close association has developed wild He Dis in cancasure labour movement • Be gium Forty will be going on May Day.
The men fortunate to go abroad in this dispute have changed their atforeigners.
Titleer British working people can very nanonalistic the dispute has knocked this attitude out of us.
We've made lots of good friends and this is a positive gain of the great strike.
I've made a formal request to management and local. management given a good account ot my work record. But the NCB's policy on reinstatement is unclear.
Some areas reinstating miners, others like Scotland are taking a hard line.
Ian MacGregor said that insubordination go unpunished and there's obviously a battle going on within the NCB with the the hardliners WeLS over what scale of the witch hunt should be launched.
in Bold, the miners are very angry with conditions in the pits. They are stopp ing all DONES payments clawing back all the ren owed in the aispute and the wages being paid are so low it's hardly worth going to work.
The Coal Board and the media are trying cover all this up with propaganda by silence The NCB has the whip hand disatisfaction.
Defend Lewisham East rules to allow black section delegates to play a part in ure reseecuon The other five are: Vauxtingham, Newham North West, and Hornsey Wood Green. Other CLPs have indicated that they will be changing their rules soon.
tinue to allow black is as to rak apart, the NEC it these parties COll asking GMO delegates to sign an 'oath Party constitution. This constitution. This bureaucratic move will only create unnecessary diviLabour should be moving to attack the Tories, whose popularity is sinking to new depths.
Black Section National Committee (personal capacity)
No such oath has ever been used before in such a wholesale tashion. It's be ing introduced to cover up political differences These moves take place as the national executive working party on livorying black people in the DOU after the 1983 conference — is about to give a guardhere are two camp. now among miners. Those consensus with managethen there's those who know the only way ahead is preparing for another strike. My branch voted not to work.
These ordinary miners al bola wno were not militants until this strike began.
ed welcome to black sec. tions. This will not be enougn unless une working party's report states that not only should black sec tions be allowed to exist at the constituency level with voting delegates on GMCs, but that black secLIONS Should represented on regional nationa bodies cluding the national Culve Black sections will be wet rags if ther are no given constitutional Resistance has begun. On Sunday called a meeting of black section and CLP delegates to plan out what to do next.
They decided the following:
• to encourage as many Labour Parties as possible change allow black sections to delegates to GMCS local government colleces • to push for all CLPs and unions to send to the NEC resolutions condemning the loyalty oath';
of support for Lewisham East when they are visitec by a national agent on Friday 26 April , at 7.00 pm at Lymes Hall Labour Club Lymes Gove, Lewisham.
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en would only be reinstated 'over his dead body', 7 are now working..