strike1985

THE STRIKE OF 1985 A Production Record A presentation by Alan Schofield and John Doxey


The above awards gained by Silverwood in 1989 were gained by the endeavours of the miners, the centre award however was presented to the staff only and not the lads. This was a proud year for Silverwood, but there was another production record broken in 1985 shortly after the strike ended. This record however was to be marred by a broken promise by management and was to leave a sour memory for the miners involved. THE LEGENDARY 24s UNIT Alan Schofield was face spokesman at the time and recalls the week when Silverwood gained a record. " I was on 24s unit when we broke the record for the most coal produced in a week, this was just after the strike in 1985. We did the record to help some of the sacked miners get there jobs back that had been sacked during the strike. We were told from the manager at the mine, that if we did the record some of the sacked miners could get there jobs back! We started to cut the coal on a Sunday night at 12pm and did not stop until the following Saturday at 10 am. What a week we had between the three shifts we worked none stop. It was in all the papers we had broke all records that week. . . so we did the record we had the meeting with the manager the following week for him to get the sacked miners their jobs back, and he said there was nothing he could do for them. Because I was the coal face spokesman at that time I went back down the pit and went to my unit which was the 24s and told the men. The whole unit came out on strike again for two weeks, not all of the pit, just the men that produced the record on 24s. So the extra money we had made that week we had to live on it the week after because we were on strike. All the men that were still at work, while we were on strike went on a go slow so all that coal we got out in one week did that unit 24s no good. While we were on strike the floor on the unit blew, so when we did return to work two weeks later the face was stood for weeks because we had to back dint all the floor to get the height so that the coal cutting machine could go through the face [ what a job! ] At the end of the day the management did not get there own way, they might have the record for the week but they didn't get the yearly out put." Alan Schofield The above incident reminds us that the comradeship of miners was not destroyed by the 1984 strike, here we have a group of men who gave a huge effort in the belief that their effort would reinstate some of their mates who had been sacked. So we can imagine their anger upon finding that they in their view had been cruelly duped. Not to mention the men who had been sacked who were given the hope they could be re-employed. We can also try to imagine the thoughts of Alan Schofield as he made his way back down the mine to tell a group of miners that their superhuman efforts had been in vain, not a task to be envied! Now it may be that the manager did try to reinstate some of the sacked miners and told by higher authority that it was not on, which makes little difference the result was an agreement broken, leaving anger and distrust in its wake. The story above reveals once again the mateship of miners, and the effort miners would give to help a mate, well done lads! © Alan Schofield John Doxey
Many thanks to Alan Schofield for the above story

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