Even the right-wing members of the National Union of Mineworkers executive do not feel able to sell the National Coal Board's retirement package to their members. Len Clarke, more out of concern for his image in the Nottingham area than from any serious intention, announced last week that he was prepared to see the Government fall in the fight for a lower retirement age.
The dismay of the 'moderates" - Joe Gormley, NUM president, whined about his disappointment at the offer, stressed that he was 'not looking to break the Social Contract shows their dilemma. The union leaders have tied their members to support for Government policies which come into stark conflict with both the decision of their own national conference and the mood of their members.
The NUM conference voted for retirement on full pay at 60 by 1 January 1977, and against the advice of the NUM leaders called for a ballot to determine what kind of industrial action should be taken if the NCB did not accept their claim.
BREACH If the Government was to accept such a demand it would cause a breach in the Social Contract big enough for other sections of the trade union movement to trample their way through. Callaghan and Healey are only too well aware of this, and are haunted by the nightmare of the wage explosions that followed the miners victories in 1972 and '74.
The right-wing screws who patrol the unions for the policies of wage restraint and unemployment would find it very difficult to check the groundswell that would erupt if the miners threw down the gaunuel. Leaders of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, for instance — anxious to avoid a fight on redundancies, and at the same time trying to make token gestures towards a growing demand in their own ranks for earlier retirement — have been forced into producing a conciliatory retirement scheme which they will try to introduce within the terms of the Social Contract. IST general secretary Bill Sirs would find it hard to sell the present scheme to his members in the event of the miners forcing the Government to give in DUI to their claim.
The demand for early retirement does not just pose cash problems Government. By reducing the working life of the miner, it brings to the fore the issue of worksharing with no loss of pay and gives a practical example to the labour movement on how to fight unemployment.
With such vital issues at stake, the the stops in order to avoid a confrontation. They are only too well aware of the massive sentiment that exists within the pits for earlier retirement.
with as much as 10 percent dust in their
EARLY
RETIREMENT NOW! them later It is this explosive sentiment simmering away in the coalfields that makes Gormley and company so uncomfortable and forces them to make brave speeches whilst pleading with the NCB to toss them a big enough crumb to buy off their members.
Meanwhile a heavy responsibility rests on the shoulders of the left inside the union. If the NUM simply present the demand in terms of the miners being a special case, then this will enable the Government and its allies in the media to mount a big campaign about 'the selfish miners who are not prepared to carry their Such a campaign could help to isolate the miners and lead to their defeat.
BREAK out that their demand does break the Social Contract, and win support from other workers on the basis that a fight against the reaction-
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NUM right wing are going to pull out all EARLY "RETREMENT NOW DEMAND