Three weeks ago my husband was getting £35 a week. Now he gets £30 since they replaced the contract system. He gets two weeks holiday pay at £21.05. The miners also get seven rest days a year, three of these days are chosen by the worker and the other four decided by the Union and the Government. When the miners were offered a pay rise a few years ago they were also offered an extra weeks holiday, but this was not to be implemented for three years. The press did not mention the three year delay. The surface workers get about £18 a week. That's only about £14 in take home pay after the rent has been paid. Kent miners get the highest pay in the country, but the worst conditions.
What are the safety conditions like in the colliery?
The ambulance comes from the pit to the medical centre two or three times a day. You can't help thinking it's your husband. All the wives along the road come to the windows to see. Last year a twenty four year old boy, an electrician, was electrocuted. So many thousand volts went through him that he didn't stand a chance. He left a wife and two young children. There's so much pressure on the worke a harry up. My babund works as s dipper starting new faces. He works with a pick and a sbovel, they reckon the work has all been mechani sed, bat it's hard work. Once he asked for more timber to prop up the coal face. He was told to keep going. Three days later he went to work and saw a great pile of timber props in the entrance. He was told to timber up quickly as the mines inspector was coming. My husband has a nightmare where he is holding up the ceiling with his hands and telling me to get out quick because the wall is going to collapse. He was staying with a young couple in London when going round picketing and woke them, crying out in this nightmare. Often he works in water up to his waist and at other times crawl along. He gets an extra 25p a day for working in water. Many of the men have dermatitis from working in water. Many have silicosis. Their lungs when they die harden up like concrete. The miners" pension is £1.50 a week. The Union hasn't fought to raise it because two-thirds of the miners never live to draw their pension. How has the village been affected by the strike?
There has been more togetherness than since the war. I wouldn't live anywhere else for the neighbourliness and comradeship. Everyone is behind the strike. There's one shop in the village and the people in the shop have been making cupt of tea for the pickets Two men who were on the club on sick pay signed off when the strike came because they wanted to be on snike with the rest of the men. They did this although they could lave got more money off sick than from the Social Security when on strike.
Two years ago the rent officers visited the village. They were going to double the One winter there was 18 inches of snow in the lofts, the roofs were so poor. The Coal Board had to put new roofs on all the houses. I suppose they'll try again to increase the rents if the miners get a pay rise. The village is quite isolated. Fhere's a bus three times a day. When my husband takes the car away for a few days picketing I'm a prisoner here. Our car is our luxury. How have the wives participated in the strike? Well, many of the wives work in the pit canteen or as cleaners in the office. About two-thirds of the wives work to supplement the family income. I went to London last Tuesday to lobby parliament. One seat in the public gallery had been reserved for a miner's wife and I was chosen to take it. When it came to question time half the Conservative MPs walked out including Heath and Home. I read in the paper the next morning that in the vote the government had had a majority of 30. I don't think they should have been allowed to vote if they had not listened to the debate.
A lot of the wives have been picketing with the men, but it's sometimes difficult for those with kids.
How is the strike progressing?
When it started no-one knew what to expect. We had only had strikes of two or three days. The first two days of the strike were very quiet but it all started on Wednesday. There was a call to all go to Kingsnorth Power Station, and everyone went flying off to The support for the strike has been marvellous. The officials in the village have had 50p stopped off their pay for the strike fund. They want to be out on strike with the men, but it depends on the Union.
The miners are determined to win. They don't like what Joe Gormley says on television. They won't go back down until they get what they are asking for. They have been working to rule since November 1. Winter is the only time for miners to go on strike. It's industry we want to hit, not housewives or old people. They say the miners knew the strike was coming and so were able to stock up with coal, but it's not true. There is always a pile up of coal tickets in November and with the work to rule there hasn't been much coal coming out of the pit. The school may close soon if it runs out of coal and then I'll have to provide dinners for the children. At the moment the miners' children are getting free school dinners.
What have you thought about press reports of the strike?
They keep playing up the question of safety in the mine. They also keep talking about old age pensioners and how they are suffering. but I had a letter from an old lady, a grandmother, a few days ago expressing support for the strike.
The press tries to make the miners look illiterate and stupid. They think that because they work in dirt they also live in dirt.
Italian television came here and interviewed the wives after our visit to London. And we also had a reporter from the Sunday Telegraph. He came and asked me what my husband was doing in his spare time. My husband has been away picketing most of the time since the strike started.
-Kate Lane (Canterbury Socialist Woman Group)