Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Saturday 01 December 1883
The Denaby Main Withdrawal
As the Denaby Main miners have been the first to take any definite stand against the policy of the Barnsley officials for the 15 per cent. advance, it may not be uninteresting to inquire what has led to the withdrawal of the notices.
It may be premised that the men do not belong to the Yorkshire Miners’ Association, but we believe they form part of what is known as the South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire Miners’ Union.
On the commencement of the agitation the latter body agreed to join in conference with the larger one, and to abide by the decision of the majority.
This the Denaby men have loyally done, until they have found themselves bound to decide if they should not only punish themselves, but also those dependent upon them, in pursuit of a policy of which they did not wholly approve.
From the first they have believed that 15 per cent. was, under all the circumstances, an extravagant amount to ask for, and that it could not be said to be justified by the alterations in trade.
Their delegates have on many occasions expressed these views, but the conferences which have been held at various places have passed fixed lines, and they have not deemed it advisable to make their own individual views public.
A short time since, however, when the notices would expire drew near, they noticed, however, what they deem to be a change of policy on the part of Messrs. Pickard and Co., and determined to make a stand on behalf of their own interests.
They felt also that they could not consider themselves thoroughly recovered from the baneful effects of former strikes, and these experiences are so fresh in their memories that they have no wish for a repetition of them.
Yesterday morning, in conversation, they expressed themselves confident that had a ballot been taken prior to the notices having been given in there would have been a large majority against any such action.
The Denaby colliers further consider that for the sake of the men engaged in other industries dependent upon the coal trade it would be unwise for them to enter upon a strike at the present time because they would be bringing misery upon others who had done nothing to deserve it.
They hold to the view that the prices realised for coal during the last few months as compared with the corresponding period of last year does not warrant the demand for 15 per cent., although there is sufficient improvement to justify some concession from the owners to the men, and think an application for a 5 per cent. increase might reasonably be expected to be successful.
If a strike had taken place at Denaby Main some 5,000 or 6,000 people, young and old, would have been affected by it and they would have had to be fed from some source or another.
Here again the painful experiences of the past stepped in and made the men clear that it was not their duty to strike unless it was undesirable that right and justice could not be obtained by any other means.
The decision to withdraw the notices has given abundant satisfaction to the inhabitants of Mexborough, Conisborough, and Doncaster, and tradespeople and others have highly eulogised the course they have taken.