Dispute – Miners Attitude – Mr Pickard Condemns Surface Men’s Union

October 1895

Mexborough and Swinton Times October 25, 1895

The Denaby Main Strike
The Miners Attitude Towards the Topmen
Mr Pickard, M.P., Condemns the Surface Men’s Union

at a Council meeting of the Yorkshire Miners Association, the case of Denaby Main was discussed.

Mr Pickard said the Denaby Main men I received 14 days notice to terminate their contract of service, consequent upon the topmen determination to strike unless there grievances were remedy and they had asked the Association to support them during the time they might be locked out.

The Council agree that should the Denaby Main men be compelled to “play” a clear week for the action of the topmen they should be paid lockout pay according to rule 68.

Afterwards Mr Pickard, M.P., said it was quite clear that somebody was at fault – who, was not for him to determine – but the members of the Yorkshire Miners Association will be bound to take some steps to protect themselves against non-descript unions ere long.

Whatever the small following of the top men’s Association may have to say on this matter, the Yorkshire Miners Association would have to determine whether or not a few men, who might consider themselves underpaid, at any particular time should have the right to cause 1600 or 1700 people to be out of work, whenever they chose to inflict a punishment upon workmen members of the Yorkshire Miners Association.

That Association did all it could for the topmen doing the good times, and if they had kept to join it, as they could have done at that particular time, they might have resolved pro rata with the workmen underground fair advances in wages. But not more than a quarter of the topmen throughout the country at any time joined the ranks of the Miners Association stop

It was well known that much of the labour on the surface was casual labour, and that men sought work were not in use – unless in penny or 2p per week unions, which could support nothing nor nobody for any considerable period – and they accept such wages as the managers thought they might be entitled to, having regard to the number of hands constantly presenting themselves for such casual labour.

The topmen connected with the Yorkshire Miners Association at Denaby Main add no grievance whatever, and not tended any notice whatever to leave their work, but, like the Underground workers, they are received a fortnight’s notice to leave their employment. If the Yorkshire Miners Association was to put up with actions of this kind every penny of its funds between now and August would be spent, not in defending wages, but in supporting men locked out by the will of the topmen, and work people never thought of union until within the last two or three years, and even their champions would not say they were men they could defend or support, seeing they had accepted wages which were below the ordinary workmen’s wage at any colliery.

Yet seen speeches in the papers, on Tuesday Wednesday, telling the workmen they must not intimidate, and practically declaring that the leader must do it, that if he was locked up no one would suffer but himself. Bert, in the light of common sense, what was fit for the leader to do was fit for the men to do. If it was not right for a member of the trade union to intimidate, neither was it right for a leader to assert it was right for him to do it.

The Yorkshire Miners Association and never conduct its business of such lines, and he suggested to the topmen connected with Denaby Main, in all sincerity, and without any mock heroism or anticipated martyrdom, that their wisest course would be not to intimidate any person or persons connected with Denaby Main. The threat held out to the Yorkshire Miners Association is the attempted to step into the breach and prevent such a dislocation of trade as was permitted at Denaby Main, would not in any way terrorise the Association from doing the right. So far as he was able to give an opinion, the all of this matter was in a nutshell.

If there were any men who started work at Denaby Main at under price, it was their own fault. The men who had worked there some considerable time had not thought it wise to tender notice in connection with this dispute, and without in any way wishing to prejudice the case of the men, he wished it to be clearly understood that the Yorkshire Miners Association had no sympathy with this sort of warfare for the benefit of a few individuals which meant poverty and the breaking up of connections which have been entered into for a generation for many in locality in the way it had been done during the past two or three months.

This was not the only place where they had expected the termination of contract, which would have added about £2000 a week to the cost of the Association. His advise to the members of the Yorkshire Miners Association at Denaby Main was to be very careful what they were doing; select nothing be done to jeopardise the so much deprecated Roseberry agreement, and the final arrangement under the Board of Conciliation. They could not be parties, as an association, either directly or indirectly, to any action which would jeopardise in any sense or degree that arrangement. They meant to be faithful to that arrangement so far as the Association was concern, and asked that every man in the Association to adopt the same course, believe it was the best arrangement ever entered into by two parties for the period name.

Whoever sought to destroy their work, whatever threats might be held out, would not deter them from doing right and maintaining the wages of the workmen under that agreement