Dispute Week 1 – Bringing Out the Tools

2 January 1885

Mexborough & Swinton Times January, 2nd, 1885.

Bringing Out the Tools

A meeting of nearly 500 miners was hold at the Reresby Arms, Denaby Main, on Tuesday evening, for the purpose of hearing the report of the deputation which waited on the manager on the previous day, and to decide on the necessary steps to be taken in view of the crisis.

The chair was taken by a Miner, who called on Mr. Chappell, the secretary to the association to address the meeting.

Mr Chappell’s speech

Mr. Chappell said inasmuch as they had had no answer from the owners as to whether anything suggested by the deputation to the managers would be accepted, they thought it wise to abstain from any strong expressions. They did not wish to aggravate the case and he fancied that no one could place the whole of the men’s case before the public in a mere forcible way than it had been done. (Hear, hear.)

There were, however many of the outside public who had never been down a pit, and as far as he could learn did not understand what Mr. Nicholas had said with regard to the difficulties of selling coal because of its being mixed and sent out in a way not at all in keeping with their contracts. He had been very closely questioned on that point. He had an option of his own on the subject, and taking it for granted that matters at Denaby were arranged as at most places, they did not do everything which met with approval of everyone in authority over them, There was not a colliery where fault had not been found with the men for not sending out coal, as was stated in keeping with the contracts.

He could tell them a very long story respecting the action of certain companies – not colliery companies but companies which consumed large quantities of coal – and the methods they adopted for the purpose of getting their coal at prices considerably below its value. He knew a gentleman who was sent for some miles not many days ago in order that a complaint might be laid against the coal which was being supplied under a contracts by the colliery company. One gentleman said he was not satisfied with the charges which they had tried to bring against the coal, as two men were kept in the screens besides others who were employed about the colliery, and who did all they believed to be necessary to produce a good article, and he was satisfied that the report, or the alleged facts on which the report was based, as to the unsatisfactory condition of their coal, were incorrect. Another merchant found fault with the coal sent from a certain colliery and said he wanted a considerable discount for bad coal off a certain cargo. The gentleman to whom the compliant was made at once started himself to look at the bad coal, but when he arrived at the place the person who made the complaint said the was not there but at another place. Another servant of colliery company, was sent to the place named and obtained information which proved that the complaint was not founded on facts, as great satisfaction was expressed with the quality of the coal obtained from the pit in question. He had seen stuff lying on the side at one of the collieries which had been returned as bad from Hull, but which had no more been obtained from a thick coal colliery in South Yorkshire than from London, but had been picked out from various cargoes which had come from West Yorkshire. While there might be a slight percentage of ground on which to find fault, there was a vast deal of ground on which there was no possible need to make any complaints. (Hear, hear.) His conviction was that if the owners would give the men another trial on the old system, and let each collier have the control of his own trammer, things would be remedied. If he was bought up a shoemaker or a farmer, and it happened that from circumstances over which he had no control he was thrown out of work, and obliged to apply where he could in order to earn his bread, he could not help that. At the same time he (Mr. Chappell) could not go into a shop and make a shoe and no man would pay 14s. 6d. for a pair of boots he had produced the first fortnight he had worked at the trade.

While those men had a legitimate right to work where they liked, the colliers said they ought not to be held responsible for any faults they might commit before they became thoroughly conversant with their business. (Applause.) If those in authority over them would let them have the control of their trammers it would be better for the company. (Applause.) As the matter stood the managers took the full control; set men on and sent them where they liked, and the miners had no control over them. They were actually sent into the colliers’ places in their absence, and they had no possible inducement but to fill for numbers. The colliers ought not to be blamed to the extent which the report of last Wednesday really did blame them. He hoped the company would give them another trial on the old terms, and they would see if they could do better and fill all the holing stuff by itself, and not put a single shovelful of it amongst the best coal.

He then made a statement concerning the visit of the deputation to the manager on Monday, a report of which appears in another column. He contented that arbitration was the proper mode of settling such disputes. If the company were anxious not to interfere with the present rate of wages so far as the bulk of it was concerned, and would set apart three or four stalls, letting them be holed across in the presence of men representing both sides, and the coal sent out, the men would abide by the results.

Until they received an answer from Mr. Pope as to whether any one of their suggestions could be adopted he saw nothing but the bringing out of their tools by the men. (Applause.) No one could say that with more profound feeling than he did. They knew what strikes were, and no one knew more about them than the men of Denaby Main. None had suffered more, than they had from strikes, and he did not think there was scarcely a man about the place – he would not like to think there was a single one – but who would like to break his neck almost rather than bring his tools out. Everyone wished to go on working, and if it were only a question of satisfying the public market, if the company would give the men another trial he thought every collier, and the great bulk of the trammers, were prepared to do their best in future to send out coal, he would say, in a better condition than it had been sent out before. There seemed to be a disposition on the part of many to admit that things might have been done a little better, but there were many things which contributed to the results complained of. He had been informed that trammers had been offered 2s. 6d. by a deputy if they would bring out 40 tons a day, but no trammer could do that.

There was another important matter. A few years ago there were six hard screens at the colliery, two men at each screen, when the output was less by 800 tons per shift than at present. If he were rightly informed, there are at present only three hard screens, with the same number of persons. Some time ago there was a block at the bottom of the screens, and each tub was blocked there. But at present there is no block at the bottom, and the thing went straight into the wagons and there was no more about it. All those things must thrown into the scale to counterbalance to a large extent the complaints made by Mr. Nicholas. There was another point. One of the letters which appeared in the Mexborough and Swinton Times and the Sheffield papers had drawn the attention of the public, and they were saying ‘Are men responsible for dross?’ They were not responsible, except it was a great lump falling out of a pothole, and no man would put that in. (Laughter.) The screeners had to do with that department. They were all extremely sorry that the matter had come to that pass, and were hoping that on the morrow a message might come which would carry into effect the proposal made by the deputation, to postpone the notices for a fortnight or three weeks, in order that owners might have a fair chance of considering the proposals of the men, and the whole thing, being more widely ventilated, would be settled in such a manner as to meet the wishes of everyone concerned. (Applause.)

In the absence of any definite statement from the owners, that meeting had no other alternative but to confirm the resolution of the committee of the executive, viz., ‘That the proposed revision of wages being a reduction, the district cannot recommend the men to accept it.’ There was no other alternative before them but to allow the thing to take its course, and the side which wins would win. He never liked to resort to that measure. It was a very important thing, there were so many things connected with it. No one knew more than they did the complications which surrounded them at that place by living in the owners’ houses, which if a reduction was seriously contemplated, would make matters worse, and no one knew how it would end. He hoped that a strike, with all its terrible consequences, would be avoided. (Applause.)

After a few words on the packing question from Mr. Chappell, the Chairman put the following resolution, which was carried unanimously: –

‘That the proposed change be not accepted by the men.’

Another resolution confirming the action taken by the deputation was carried unanimously. – The meeting then terminated.