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Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Coal was our life Thesis How to cite: Jones, Nerys Anwen (1997). Coal was our life. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 1996 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000d49a Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk NERYS ANWEN JONES BA MA COAL WAS OUR LIFE THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES THE OPEN UNIVERSITY NOVEMBER 1996 MIl (O'S'559 ;; I JIo "'O~-V lotq6 1)v.J~ S5~: vI o...NcvrJ_ .' J~ JvJ:-; 1'1"17 CONTENTS PREFACE 1 INTRODUCTION 3 CHAPTERS CHAPTER ONE The North East Coalfield 26 CHAPTER TWO Having It All Their Own Way 47 CHAPTER THREE ColIiery Closures and the Miners' Strike 1984-85 66 CHAPTER FOUR The Final Phase 95 CHAPTER FIVE Methodology 118 CHAPTER SIX The Employment Effects of Closure: South Tyneside 147 CHAPTER SEVEN Employment History, The Experience of Closure and the Search for Work 176 CHAPTER EIGHT Summary and Conclusions 243 TABLES 1. Increase in Coal Shipments from the Tyne 28 2. Phases of Colliery Closures 1947-87 67 3. Decline of the North East Coalfield 1947-94: British Coal Deep Mines 72 4. Decline of the North East Coalfield 1947-94: British Coal Employees 73 5. British Coal Operating Collieries at 1 March 1994 105 6. Employment Prospects of Ex-miners in Two Communities 152 7. Change in Unemployment by Travel to Work Area 154 8. Duration of Unemployment on Tyneside July 1995 161 9. Estimated Unemployment by Age on Tyneside 161 10. Changing Structure of Employment on Tyneside 163 11. Occupation Sought 164 12. Expected Scale of Job Losses Overall Based on National Characteristics 165 13. Expected Scale of Job Losses Based on Known Local Circumstances 166 14. The Impact of Closure on Job Losses Locally and Elsewhere 166 15. Age of Men Leaving Westoe 167 16. Employment Status of Men One Year After Closure 168 17. Average Age of Men by Employment Status 169 18. Training and Education 170 19. Employment 170 20. Unemployed 172 21. Reduction in Weekly Incomes of Men in Employment 174 22. Reduction in Weekly Incomes of Men not in Employment 174 23. Geographical Distribution of Sample by 180 Residence APPENDICES APPENDIX ONE Survey Questionnaire 287 APPENDIX TWO Training Available at BCE's Horden Skills Centre 289 REFERENCES 290 PREFACE This study had its origins in a research proposal submitted to the Open University by Dr Eric Wade, the provisional title being 'The North East Coalfields Facing Change: the Social and Economic Consequences of Pit Closures". The proposal was accepted and an Open University Regional Research Studentship awarded. The research was conducted between October 1993 and November 1996. This study would not have been possible without the help and support of a number of people. In particular I would like to thank Mike Peel, Kel Beavan and Jim Perry of the Westoe Colliery Campaign Group; Eric and Marlene Wade, Kath Avery and Christine Clark for their support, help and friendship over the last three years. Finally, thanks to the men from Westoe who agreed to participate in the research. The study describes the experiences of a small sample of men from Westoe Colliery in South Shields within a comprehensive conceptual framework, that is rather than taking the closure as its starting point this study attempts to understand the importance and relevance of redundancy in terms of the men's life experience. For this reason the men's reasons for entering mining and their subsequent attachment to work are considered as is the increasing dissatisfaction with work experienced following the closure announcement. This study seeks to add to our understanding of the process of redundancy and the way in which redundancy was achieved with relative ease. As Wood and Dey (1983) have noted reactions to redundancy are, of course, affected by the current state of the labour market but they are also affected by other factors. The role of redundancy payments is examined and it is found that such payments have an extremely important role in easing the process of redundancy, however they cannot be considered in isolation from other factors that served to constrain the workers' choices. Redundancy is a far more complex process than many studies have suggested and cannot be understood without considering how previous experiences. influence workers' perceptions of events and their reaction to them. 1 The labour market experiences of the redundant men and the role of British Coal Enterprise are also examined and this study, in common with others, questions BCE's claims of success in 'outplacing' redundant miners. The men's experiences are considered in the context of Government and employers' attempts to increase flexibility. It is found that redundant miners, like an increasing proportion of Britain's workforce, are experiencing increasing insecurity both in and out of employment. 2 INTRODUCTION On 13 October 1992 British Coal announced its intention to close thirty-one of its fifty remaining deep coal mines with the loss of 30,000 jobs, the biggest mass closure since the industry was nationalised in 1947. In a statement to the House of Commons, Michael Heseltine, President of the Board of Trade, blamed British Coal's decision on the collapse of demand for British coal. The pits under threat in the North East were: Vane Tempest and Easington in County Durham, Westoe in South Shields and Wearmouth in Sunderland. Only Ellington in Northumberland, the 'Big E' remained unscathed. Between the first closure announcement and the end of 1993 the four pits closed, leaving only one British Coal deep mine in what was once known as the Great Northern Coalfield. Ellington Colliery closed on 18 February 1994.1 The decline in British deep mining from the 1960s to the beginning of the 1990s (see chapter 3) was dramatic.l but it was greater in the North East than in the country as a whole. When the industry was nationalised in 1947 there were 201 pits in the North East coalfield employing 148,000 men, in 1980 there were 28 pits employing 33,500 men. In 1993 there were only two remaining British Coal deep mines, during the period of this research both Wearmouth (Sunderland) and Ellington (in Northumberland) closed. The decline of the Durham coalfield has been both lengthy and severe (see chapter 1). The severity of this decline when measured from the period of Durham's dominance in the coal industry can easily be seen in employment figures. The number of men employed in Durham collieries dropped from a peak of 165,807 in 1913 to 109,721 when the industry was nationalised. In 1975 the industry employed 26,072 men (Krieger, 1984). The Durham Miners' Association endorsed NCB regional policy for the North East lEllington Colliery has since reopened as a private mine owned by RJB Mining, 1,200 men were employed there in 1994, the colliery now employs just 350 men. 2See Chapter 2. 3 despite the severe consequences for its membership. In County Durham whole communities, which had lost their "economic rationale for existing" were simply allowed to decline (Hudson, 1989: 360). The decline in coal mining in the North East can be attributed mainly to the exhaustion of reserves in the western parts of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield and the opening of new collieries in other parts of the country. Since the 1984-85 miners' strike however, there have been accelerated colliery closures for purely economic reasons (NECC, 1986). The North East Coalfield Communities Campaign- predicted in 1986: [if the] dramatic decline of the last forty years continues, this could mean that the 1990s would see the last colliery close in a region where 'the pit' once dominated life and landscape (NECCC, 1986). The National Union of Mineworkers, like the Durham Miners' Association, also continued to acquiesce in closures despite a 1972 Conference commitment to a policy of 'no pit closures unless through exhaustion'. However, the issue of colliery closures became increasingly explosive in the early 1980s as unemployment grew and traditional industries in which energy use was high contracted. The twin consequences were a slump in the demand for coal and the elimination of alternative job opportunities in many mining areas. Thirdly, the NCB's goal of concentrating production in new 'super-pits' employing advanced technology implied that even substantially increased output in the 1990s would be no guarantee against serious job loss (Hyman, 1985: 337). In 1981 the NCB proposed a massive pit closure programme, the miners threatened a national ballot on strike action and the government backed down, at this time the National Union of Mineworkers appeared invincible. In 1984 the announcement of the closure of Cortonwood Colliery in Yorkshire led to the longest and costliest strike in 3 The North East Coalfield Communities Campaign is the North East regional group of the Coalfield Communities Campaign comprising Alnwick, Blyth Valley, Castle Morpeth, Darlington, Durham City, Durham County, Easington, North Tyneside, Sedgefield, Wansbeck and Wear Valley councils. 4 British history, on this occasion the government and British Coal refused to back down and the miners were forced to return to work. Between the end of the strike in March 1985 and June 1987, 66 pits closed and the workforce was reduced by a third.