"the government at the time, although papers released in 2014 under the thirty-year rule suggest that Scargill was right. Miners were split between those who supported the strike and those who opposed it (see Union of Democratic Mineworkers). Scargill never balloted NUM members for a strike; this was seen as an erosion of democracy within the union, but the role of ballots in decision-making had been made very unclear after previous leader, Joe Gormley, had ignored two ballots over wage reforms, and his decisions had been upheld after appeals to court were made. The NUM had previously held three ballots"
"Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British Marxist and trade unionist. He was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. Joining the NUM at the age of nineteen in 1957, he became one of its leading activists in the late 1960s. He led an unofficial strike in 1969, and played a key organising role during the strikes of 1972 and 1974, the latter of which helped in the downfall of Edward Heath's Conservative government. A decade later, he led the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a major event in the"
"(Entire London city) Welsh Assembly elections European Parliament elections Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British Marxist and trade unionist. He was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. Joining the NUM at the age of nineteen in 1957, he became one of its leading activists in the late 1960s. He led an unofficial strike in 1969, and played a key organising role during the strikes of 1972 and 1974, the latter of which helped in the downfall of Edward Heath's Conservative government. A decade later, he led the union through"
"elected to lifetime presidency of the NUM by an overwhelming national majority, in a controversial election where some of the other candidates claimed that they were given very little time to prepare. He stepped down from leadership of the NUM at the end of July 2002, to become the honorary president. He was succeeded by Ian Lavery. In 1990, Scargill was accused in a series of ""Daily Mirror"" articles of mishandling money donated for the striking miners during the 1984-5 strike, with many of the sources being those who had previously worked with him in the NUM such as Kim"
"NUM's once moderate executive into a reliably militant group... By adopting a position that no pits should be closed on economic grounds, even if the coal was exhausted – more investment would always find more coal, and from his point of view, the losses were irrelevant – he made sure confrontation would not be avoided. Exciting, witty Arthur Scargill brought coalmining to a close in Britain far faster than would have happened had the NUM been led by some prevaricating, dreary old-style union hack. There is a prevailing view that Arthur Scargill, the NUM National President, called the strike. He"
"it emerged in court cases between the NUM and its former president Arthur Scargill that a substantial proportion of union members' subscriptions was being spent on expenses for Scargill, including unauthorised rent payments for a flat in London's Barbican Estate. A further 540 miners' job losses were announced in January 2013. As of 2016, the following area unions are affiliated to the NUM: Presidents Vice Presidents General Secretaries National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a trade union for coal miners in Great Britain, formed in 1945 from the Miners' Federation of Great Britain"
"opponent of Thatcher's Conservative government, frequently appearing on television to attack it. On the appointment of Ian MacGregor as head of the NCB in 1983, Scargill stated, ""The policies of this government are clear – to destroy the coal industry and the NUM"". However, Scargill's statements in the years after becoming NUM president divided left-wing opinion with his support of Soviet Communism, most notably when he refused to support the TUC's positions on the Solidarity union in Poland or on the Soviet shooting of the Korean Air Lines Flight 007. One branch of the NUM, at Annesley in Nottinghamshire, put"
"general election. In the 1981 election for NUM president, Scargill secured around 70% of the vote. One of the main planks of his platform was to give more power to union conferences than to executive meetings, on the grounds that the former were more democratic. This had great implications for regional relations in the NUM; the executive was described as dominated by ""Gormley's rotten boroughs"", since every region – even quite small ones – had one delegate, and the larger regions had only a few more (Scotland and South Wales had two delegates each, Yorkshire had three). Scargill had, before"
"Scargill stepped down as NUM President in August 2002, Lavery was elected through the normal balloting procedures, although he stood unopposed. He was perceived by many in the NUM as ""the natural successor to Arthur Scargill"". In February 2010 Lavery became the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party for Wansbeck and was duly elected Member of Parliament (MP) on 6 May 2010 with a reduced majority of 7,031. On 8 May 2015, Lavery was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Wansbeck with 19,276 votes. Despite his party suffering nationally, Lavery's majority increased to 10,881 (28.2%) from 7,031 in"
"degree of solidarity, as they came from isolated villages where most workers were employed in the pits, had similar lifestyles, and an evangelical religious style based on Methodism that led to an ideology of egalitarianism. The dominance of mining in these local economies led Oxford professor Andrew Glyn to conclude that no pit closure could be beneficial for government revenue. From 1981, the NUM was led by Arthur Scargill, a militant trade unionist and socialist, with strong leanings towards communism. Scargill was a vocal opponent of Thatcher's government. In March 1983, he stated ""The policies of this government are clear"
"worked at the time was closed, and he instead became a full-time trade unionist. In 2012, he was elected as President of the NUM, after becoming the only candidate to meet the requirements for nomination to the post. This was challenged in court by Stephen Mace, a Yorkshire-based miner who was a supporter of Arthur Scargill, but the tribunal ruled that his election was run correctly. Nicky Wilson Nicky Wilson (born 5 July 1950) is a British trade unionist. Wilson began working as an electrician at Cardowan Colliery in 1967. He joined the Scottish Colliery Enginemen, Boilermen and Tradesmen Association"
"becoming president, favoured moving the head office of the NUM out of London, which he described as a ""prostituting place"". A motion from the Kent area was passed by the NUM conference to move the head office to a coalfield. Scargill subsequently decided to move to Sheffield, and said that he had spoken to each member of staff to ask them to move to Sheffield. The staff at headquarters issued a press statement in January 1983 to deny this and to list twelve grievances against Scargill's treatment of his staff. The section under ""staff procedures"" details how Scargill monitored head"
"astounded if they knew that."" On 25 August 2010, it was reported that Scargill had been told that he no longer qualified for full membership of the NUM under union rules that he had helped draw up, but was only eligible for ""life"" or ""retired"" or ""honorary"" membership – which did not carry voting rights. In February 2012, Scargill won £13,000 in a court action against the NUM, primarily for car expenses, and for the earlier temporary denial of membership. Scargill admitted there was 'bad blood' between him and the NUM general secretary Chris Kitchen, who said, ""I honestly do"
"by. In July 1990, the NUM executive voted unanimously to sue Scargill and general secretary Peter Heathfield. Negotiations between Scargill and the NUM took place in France. Airport staff at Leeds-Bradford Airport identified Scargill attempting to travel under a false name (Arthur Fenn) wearing a disguise on 20 July, and turned him away to purchase a genuine ticket with his true identity. In September 1990, the Certification Officer brought criminal charges against Scargill and Heathfield for wilfully neglecting to perform the union's duty to keep proper accounting records. Scargill reached an agreement to repay money to the NUM shortly after"
"extramural department. He also became a local councillor in Chesterfield, and unsuccessfully sought nomination as a Labour candidate in the 1964 General Election for Ilkeston. In 1966, he was elected to a full-time post in the NUM, rising to become vice-president of the Derbyshire NUM in 1970 and Derbyshire area secretary in 1973. Although tipped to become national president of the NUM in 1981, he stood aside to support the younger Arthur Scargill as the left-wing candidate. In January 1984, he was elected general secretary of the NUM, taking over the post in March, five days before the strike began."
"of Mineworkers (NUM) leader Arthur Scargill as crucial. Early in the strike, British Steel plants had been receiving ""dispensations"", picket-permitted movements of coal to prevent damage to their furnaces. However, it was found that more than the permitted amount of coal had been delivered, so action was taken. In the early days of the 1984–1985 strike, the National Union of Mineworkers made a decision to picket the integrated steel complexes. Arthur Scargill invoked the notion of the old ""Triple Alliance"" whereby the unions in coal, steel and rail were bound to support one another, and asked steelworkers not to handle"
"work for surface workers, who were often older mineworkers who were no longer capable of working underground. Wages were lower, and working hours were longer for surface work than for underground work. The annual conference of the NUM had voted in July 1968 to demand the surface workers' hours be lowered to seven and three-quarters, but the union's executive had not acted upon the vote. On 11 October, Arthur Scargill led a group of Yorkshire mineworkers in pushing for action at the Yorkshire NUM's area council. The president of the Yorkshire NUM, Sam Bullogh, was unwell at the time and"
"claim that the Scottish NUM continued the strike alongside Kent. At several pits, miners' wives groups organised the distribution of carnations, the flower that symbolises the hero, at the pit gates on the day the miners went back. Many pits marched back to work behind brass bands, in processions dubbed ""loyalty parades"". Arthur Scargill led a procession accompanied by a Scots piper, back to work at Barrow Colliery in Worsborough but then it was stopped by a picket of Kent miners. Scargill said, ""I never cross a picket line,"" and turned the procession away. The role of ballots in NUM"
"National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a trade union for coal miners in Great Britain, formed in 1945 from the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). The NUM took part in three national miners' strikes, in 1972, 1974 and 1984–85. After the 1984–85 strike and the subsequent closure of most of Britain's coal mines, it became a much smaller union. It had around 170,000 members when Arthur Scargill became leader in 1981, a figure which had fallen in 2015 to an active membership of around 100. The Miners' Federation of Great Britain was"
"a mile to the east. At that time around 17,000 tons of high quality coal was produced each week. The NUM leader, Arthur Scargill, started work at the colliery in 1953 aged 14. The pit was traditionally amongst the most conservative in Yorkshire, and Scargill was often in dispute with the branch leadership. He organised a strike in 1960 over the day on which union meetings were held, as he argued that these were deliberately held at a time when the sections of the workforce that were inclined towards militancy were unable to attend. During the UK miners' strike (1984-85),"
"Research Council which might be relevant to proposed workings [and] diligent enquiry into other sources of information which may be available, e.g. from geological memoirs, archives, libraries and persons with knowledge of the area and its history"". The response of Arthur Scargill, then working as a compensation agent in the Yorkshire NUM, is credited with boosting his popularity with the Yorkshire miners and helping his election to the post of president of the Yorkshire Area NUM later in 1973. He accompanied the rescue teams underground and was on site for six days with the relatives of the ten deceased. At"
"overall membership began to fall, and was below one million by 1976. The union was based in London for many years, with the British National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as its largest affiliate. In 1983, Arthur Scargill, leader of the NUM, proposed dissolving the federation and forming a new one with the World Federation of Trade Unions-affiliated Trade Unions International of Miners. This was opposed by a majority of members, but the NUM nevertheless withdrew, leaving the federation to relocate its headquarters to Brussels and struggle with a shortage of funds. The MIF began recruiting unions in other parts of"
"the pension fund's powers. Mr JR Cowan was the deputy-chairman of the board. Arthur Scargill led the NUM and was one of the five member nominated trustees, and represented the other four in person. Megarry VC held the NUM trustees would be in breach of trust if they followed the instructions of the union, saying ‘the best interests of the beneficiaries are normally their best financial interests.’ So if investments of an unethical type ‘would be more beneficial to the beneficiaries than other investments, the trustees must not refrain from making the investments by virtue of the views that they"
"what we should be doing to win back members for the NUM."" Scargill became president of the NUM for life in 1985. In the aftermath of the strike, miners were offered large redundancy payments in ballots organised by the NCB and the offers were accepted even at the most militant pits. The manager of the militant Yorkshire Main Colliery said at the time of the pit's vote to close in October 1985, ""I know people who abused us and threatened us on the picket line and then were the first to put in for redundancy."" In 1991, the South Yorkshire"
"as international bodies such as the international Confederation of Free Trade Unions that excluded communist unions of the sort that joined the Soviet-dominated World Federation of Trade Unions. In some trades, especially coal mining, the Communists did have some power, as typified by Arthur Scargill, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. Scargill defied public opinion, a trait Prime Minister Thatcher exploited when she defeated his strike in 1985. More effective in the Communist cause was Ken Gill, president of a large union and in 1974 the first Communist elected in decades to the"
"an unelected judge to interfere in the union's affairs."" He was fined £1,000 (paid by an anonymous businessman), and the NUM was fined £200,000. When the union refused to pay, an order was made to sequester the union's assets, but they had been transferred abroad. In October 1984, the NUM executive voted to cooperate with the court to recover the funds, despite opposition from Scargill, who stated in court that he was only apologising for his contempt of court because the executive voted for him to do so. By the end of January 1985, around £5 million of NUM assets"
"After the end of the strike, the NUM took an active leadership role in working to align the labour movement in the UK more closely with LGBT rights issues. Following the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign of 1984–85, the organisation's Welsh chapters became the first non-LGBT organisation to participate in London's Lesbian and Gay Pride parade, and at the Labour Party's 1985 policy conference, the NUM's unanimous block voting support contributed to the successful passage of Composite 26, a resolution which formally committed the party to an LGBT rights platform. Long based in London, Scargill commissioned a new"
"appeared at pits in Nottinghamshire and Harworth Colliery closed after a mass influx of pickets amid claims that Nottinghamshire was ""scabland in 1926"". On 12 March 1984, Scargill declared the NUM's support for the regional strikes in Yorkshire and Scotland, and called for action from NUM members in all other areas but decided not to hold a nationwide vote which was used by his opponents to delegitimise the strike. The strike was almost universally observed in South Wales, Yorkshire, Scotland, North East England and Kent, but there was less support across the Midlands and in North Wales. Nottinghamshire became a"
"McGahey warned him to retire in 1983 and protect his health, as he feared that a ""bloody"" strike was inevitable with the appointment of Ian MacGregor and that there would be conflict between different regions in the NUM. Surveillance by MI5 on McGahey during the 1984–85 strike found that he was ""extremely angry and embarrassed"" about Scargill's links with the Libyan regime, but that he was ""happy to take part, with Scargill and other NUM leaders, in contacts with Soviet representatives"". After the strike, McGahey became more critical of Arthur Scargill and argued against the growing concentration of power within"
"believe that Arthur, in his own world, believes that the NUM is here to afford him the lifestyle that he's become accustomed to."" However, in December 2012, Scargill lost a similar case concerning rent on his flat in the Barbican, London. In 2012, the flat was valued at £1,500,000, and has 24/7 access to concierge services. For years the NUM had been paying £34,000 annual rent for the flat on Scargill's instructions, without the knowledge of NUM members or many senior officials; Scargill claimed the NUM should continue funding his flat for the rest of his life, and thereafter for"
"of the National Coal Board by Thatcher in 1983. In 1984, after secretly stockpiling coal at power stations, the NCB announced the closure of 20 pits. Local regions organised strikes but NUM President Arthur Scargill, without a national ballot of the union's membership, declared a national strike in March 1984 which was ruled illegal in England, making striking miners ineligible for benefits. Support for the strike was not universal; in some areas such as North Wales support was small but great in others such as South Wales. Also, Yorkshire was more enthusiastic about the strike than Nottinghamshire where many miners"
"any widow who survived him. Chris Kitchen said: ""I would say it's time to walk away, Mr Scargill. You've been found out. The NUM is not your personal bank account and never will be again."" Kitchen says that Scargill ""has had 30 years of decent living out of the union, and he's got a pension that's second to none. Had he done the humble thing and walked away with what he were entitled to, his reputation would still be intact... I've always said that if Arthur can no longer control the NUM, he'll try and destroy it. That's what I"
"the country's miners, led by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) under Arthur Scargill, downed tools in protest. However, Scargill refused to hold a ballot on the strike, having previously lost three ballots on a national strike (in January and October 1982, and March 1983). This led to the strike being declared illegal by the High Court of Justice. Thatcher refused to meet the union's demands and compared the miners' dispute to the Falklands War, declaring in a speech in 1984: ""We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy"