Kent Miners' Association
Encyclopedia
The Kent Miners' Association was a trade union
in the United Kingdom
.
Coal
was discovered in Kent
in the late nineteenth century, but extraction did not begin until 1912. The Kent Miners Association was established in 1915, and immediately affiliated to the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. Working conditions in the mines were poor, and mine owners struggled to attract workers, giving a strong bargaining position the union.
In 1941, a dispute emerged over additional payments for working a particularly difficult seam. Official arbitration backed the mineowners, prompting more than 4,000 coal miners to strike, despite a wartime ban on industrial action. The government responded by arresting 1,000 of the miners and imprisoning three union officials with hard labour, but only nine workers paid their fines, and the government were forced to negotiate with the gaoled union leaders; they were released after eleven days, and the fines were waived.
The union became the Kent Area of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1945, by which time, membership had reached 5,100. In 1961, 160 workers at Betteshanger
were served with redundancy notices. A stay-down strike was launched, which succeeded in persuading the National Coal Board
to open a new seam, allowing the workforce to remain at the same level. Despite this, one pit closed in 1969, and two more were listed for closure in 1981. This ensured that the area was strongly supportive of the UK miners' strike of 1984-1985, with Malcolm Pitt, the Area President, being jailed for allegedly breaching bail conditions, and any suspected miners regularly turned back at the Dartford Tunnel. The last coal mine closed in 1989.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
was discovered in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
in the late nineteenth century, but extraction did not begin until 1912. The Kent Miners Association was established in 1915, and immediately affiliated to the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. Working conditions in the mines were poor, and mine owners struggled to attract workers, giving a strong bargaining position the union.
In 1941, a dispute emerged over additional payments for working a particularly difficult seam. Official arbitration backed the mineowners, prompting more than 4,000 coal miners to strike, despite a wartime ban on industrial action. The government responded by arresting 1,000 of the miners and imprisoning three union officials with hard labour, but only nine workers paid their fines, and the government were forced to negotiate with the gaoled union leaders; they were released after eleven days, and the fines were waived.
The union became the Kent Area of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1945, by which time, membership had reached 5,100. In 1961, 160 workers at Betteshanger
Betteshanger
Betteshanger is a village near Deal in East Kent, England. It gave its name to the largest of the four chief collieries of the Kent coalfield.-Before the coal mine:...
were served with redundancy notices. A stay-down strike was launched, which succeeded in persuading the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
to open a new seam, allowing the workforce to remain at the same level. Despite this, one pit closed in 1969, and two more were listed for closure in 1981. This ensured that the area was strongly supportive of the UK miners' strike of 1984-1985, with Malcolm Pitt, the Area President, being jailed for allegedly breaching bail conditions, and any suspected miners regularly turned back at the Dartford Tunnel. The last coal mine closed in 1989.
General Secretaries
- 1915: W. H. Varley
- 1919: H. Hartley
- 1920s: John Elks
- 1948: Jack Johnson
- 1960: Jack Dunn
- 1970s: Jack Collins