Transcripts of Personal Documents

Contract of Employment

THE NATIONAL COAL BOARD Markham No. 2 [stamped in blue ink] Colliery

I the undersigned, agree with the National Coal Board, East Midlands Division ( No. I Area), to serve the said Board from the undermentioned date at MARKHAM No. 2 [stamped in blue ink]. Colliery upon the terms and conditions set forth in Board's Collieries and subject also to the Coal Mines Acts 1911 and Regulations, the prescribed abstract of which together with a copy of the said Contract Rules I hereby acknowledge I have received.

I hereby further agree that my employment shall be terminated by a written notice to expire on the fourteenth day from the date such notice is given.

The Board agree to engage me on the said terms and conditions subject to the said Acts and Regulations.

I hereby declare whether or not I am qualified to work otherwise than under supervision of a skilled workman in accordance with Section 73 of the Coal Mines Act 1911, and that I will serve the Board as regularly as the state of trade and interruption from accident or repairs to its mines and works or the non-arrival of wagons or general holidays will from time to time Permit and that my wages shall be regulated by such National Agreements and the County Wages Agreement for the time being in force and that this contract of service shall be subject to those Agreements and to any other Agreements relating to or in connection with or subsidiary to the Wages Agreement and to statutory provisions for the time being in force affecting the same.

I further declare that I accept the responsibilities imposed on me by all the Agreements referred to above ; and that I will, on request by the Board, work underground, provided I am physically fit to do so.

It is hereby further agreed that the Board shall be entitled but not bound to supply me with any of such articles, matters or things respectively specified and set out opposite my name in the eighth column hereunder, and that if the Board shall supply to me any of such articles, matters or things, the Board shall be entitled to deduct any sum due to the Board from me in respect thereof from any wages or income tax repayments or other monies from time to time due to me from or payable to me by the Board whether during my past, present or any future employment : and that if the Board shall demise to me or permit me to occupy any dwellinghouse or part thereof, the Board shall be entitled to deduct the amount of any rent or rates or other payments due from me to the Board in respect of such demise or such occupation from any wages, income tax repayments or other monies from time time due to me from or repayable to me by the Board whether during my past, present or any future employment and I hereby respectively authorise and request the Board, so long as my employment by the Board continues and until further notice, to pay on my behalf and in my name to the person or persons who for the time being are Treasurers of, or otherwise entitled to receive monies on behalf of, the institutions, societies, clubs, committees, organisations or services respectively specified and set out opposite my name in the ninth column hereunder, the amount of subscription, contribution, donation or other payment from time to time agreed to be paid by me to any such institution, society, club, committee, organisation or service ; and I hereby authorise and request the Board to make all such payments out of the wages, income tax repayments or other monies from time to time due to me from or payable to me by the Board. Except as otherwise expressly notified in writing by me to the Board, the amount of any such subscription, contribution, donation or other payment hereby authorised to be paid by the Board on my behalf, shall be such amount as is from time to time due to me from or payable to me by the Board. Except as otherwise expressly notified in writing by me or paid by other workmen in the same class of employment employed by the Board at the MARKHAM No. 2 [handwritten in blue] collier.

I hereby acknowledge that I have received a copy of this Agreement and authority.

DATED this 27 [handwritten in blue] day of June [handwritten in blue] One Thousand nine hundred and [handwritten in blue unclear]

[The rest of the document is a printed table filled in with blue handwriting]

1. Date

27/6/52

2. Name of Workman.

Carrington

John

3. Address.

30 [unclear] Rd

[unclear]

4. Age.

5. Married or Single.

6. Capacity in which engaged.

Haulage

7. Whether qualified to work otherwie than tinder the supervision of a skilled workman under Section 73 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911

Yes

8. Articles, Matters and things to be supplied (Delete those inapplicable). [italics

Fuel, Medicine, medical attendance, Tools, Safety equipment, lamps, lamp glasses, lamp gauges and lamp checks, explosives, fuses, motties, timber, all other materials, tools, or implements used in my occupation, services for tool sharpening. [this is all struck through with a black line].

Fuel, Tools, Safety equipment and lamp checks, explosives, all other materials, tools, or implements used in my occupations, services for tool sharpening.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO ASK FOR ANY OF THESE ITEMS TO BE DELETED. [in red ink above column 9].

9. Subscriptions, Contributions, Donations and payments. (Delete those inapplicable). [italics]

(a) Baths. [struck through]

(b) Checkweigh Fund.

(d) District Welfare as agreed between the National Coal Board and National Union of Mineworkers.

(e) 1d. per week contribution to the Miners Special Fatal Accident Fund.

(f) Contributions as detailed hereunder :—

(1) Staveley Fatal Accident Relief Fund.

(2) Derbyshire Miners' Welfare Convalescent Home

(3) Dr. Barnado's Homes.

(4) Workmen's Transport.

(5) Superannuation Contributions.

(6) Local Welfare.

(7) West Riding Permanent Relief Fund.

(8) Haulage of Allowance Coal.

(9) Miners' Holiday Camps.

(10) Convalescent Home Fund.

10. Signature or mark of workman.

J. Carrington[handwritten in blue ink]

11. Witness.

T Hall [in blue ink – transcription not very clear]

Pay Slip

[the original document used columns to differentiate between pounds shillings and pence the transcript uses -/-/- format for clarity]

613 W. Gildart

Bickershaw 15. 5 48

[unclear notations] 7/12/5

1/17 /2

War addition -/15/1

Guarantee

Make Up

Bonus Payment 1/10/6

Holiday Pay

GROSS WAGES 11/15/2

STOPPAGES

Rent

Prct. Equip. & Tools

Coal

Picks & c’Weigh -/2/6

National Savings

Permanent Relief -/-/7

Hos. Levy & W’fare -/-/4

Ben. F’ndor Sick Club -/-/1

National Insurance -/2/10

Income Tax 1/1/-

TOTAL STOPPAGES 1/7/4

NET PAYMENT £10 /7/10

[NATIONAL COAL BOARD is written down the side of the payslip]

Transfer Letter

National Coal Board

South Nottinghamshire Area

Bestwood, Nottingham

Date: 6.6.68 [handwritten]

[address details blanked out]

Dear Mr. [blanked out]

In view of the fact that Kirkby [handwritten] Colliery is to close I am offering you, on bhelaf of the National Coal Board, an alternative job as a mineworker at Annesley [handwritten] Colliery where you will be given the job of Elect [handwritten] for which you will be paid under the prevailing Agreement/Price List for Elect [handwritten] at Annesley [handwritten] colliery, starting on date to be arranged [handwritten]

If you accept this offer please use the enclosed Acceptance Form.

The conditions of service regarding hours of work, holidays, rest days, sick pay and injury benefit, pension scheme and the amount of notice required to terminate your Contract of Employment, are standard throughout the Board and remain as at present. For particulars of your terms of employment under these headings you may examine the Scehdule of Terms of Employment for Mineworkers, which is available for inspections in File C.E.A. No. 1 at your colliery office.

As explained to you at your recent interview, you will on transfer, receive protection of your earnings for a period varying from 12 to 156 weeks depending on your length of service with the Board. In the case of pieceworkers or taskworkers the protected rate of 80% of the average earnings over a period of four weeks prior to the transfer, subject to a minimum of 51/8d. per shift. In respect of daywage workers the protected rate is the standard rate for the job on which you are now employed.

You will also be entitled to claim excess travelling allowance at your new pit. You will be entitled to receive a refund of ‘bus fares in excess of 5/-d. per week, or in the case of an Underofficial, in excess 6/-d. per week.

Yours sincerely,

K Bannerman For [handwritten]

W.P. Speake

Area Industrial Relations Officer.

Letter from Ian MacGregor

National Coal Board

Hobart House, Grosvenor Place, London SW1 X 7AE

CHAIRMAN

Ian MacGregor

June, 1984

Dear Colleague,

YOUR FUTURE IS IN DANGER

I am taking the unusual step of writing to you at home because I want every man and woman who has a stake in the coal industry to realise clearly the damage which will be done if this disastrous strike goes on a long time.

The leaders of the NUM have talked of it continuing into the winter. Now that our talks with them have broken down this is a real possibility. It could go on until December even longer. In which case the consequence for everybody will be very grave.

Your President talks continually of keeping the strike going indefinitely until he achieves "victory".

I would like to tell you, not provocatively or as a threat, why that will not happen however long the strike lasts.

What this strike is really about is that the NUM leadership is preventing the development of an efficient industry. We have repeatedly explained that we are seeking to create a higher volume, lower cost industry which will be profitable, well able to provide superior levels of earnings while still being able to compete with foreign coal. To achieve this, huge sums of money are being invested in new equipment; last year it was close to £800 million and we expect to continue a similarly high rate of investment in the years ahead. Our proposals mean, short term, cutting out some of the uneconomic pits and looking for about 20,000 voluntary redundancies - the same as last year. The redundancy payments are now more generous than ever before for those who decide not to take alternative jobs offered in the industry.

However long the strike goes on I can assure you that we will end up, through our normal consultative procedures, with about the same production plans as those we discussed with your representatives on 6th March last.

But the second reason why continuing the strike will not bring the NUM "victory" is this: in the end nobody will win. Everybody will lose - and lose disastrously.

Many of you have already lost more than £2,000 in earnings and have seen your savings disappear. If the strike goes on until December it will take many of you years to recover financially and also more jobs may be lost - and all for nothing.

I have been accused of planning to butcher the industry. I have no such intention or desire. I want to build up the industry into one we can all be proud to be part of.

But if we cannot return to reality and get back to work then the industry may well be butchered. But the butchers will not be the Coal Board.

You are all aware that mines which are not constantly maintained and worked deteriorate in terms of safety and workability.

AT THE PRESENT TIME THERE ARE BETWEEN 20 and 30 pits which are viable WHICH WILL BE IN DANGER OF NEVER RE-OPENING IF WE HAVE A LENGTHY STRIKE.

This is a strike which should never have happened. It is based on very serious misrepresentation and distortion I of the facts. At great financial cost miners have supported the strike for four teen weeks because your leaders have told you this…..

That the Coal Board is out to butcher the coal industry.

That we plan to do away with 70,000 jobs

That we plan to close down around 86 pits, leaving only 100 working collieries.

IF THESE THINGS WERE TRUE I WOULD NOT BLAME MINERS FOR GETTING ANGRY OR FOR BEING DEEPLY WORRIED. BUT THESE THINGS ARE ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE. I STATE THAT CATEGORICALLY AND SOLEMNLY. YOU HAVE BEEN DELIBERATELY MISLED.

The NUM, which called the strike, will end it only when you decide it should be ended.

I would like you to consider carefully, so we can get away from the tragic violence and pressures of the mass pickets, whether this strike is really in your interest.

I ask you to join your associates who have already returned to work so that we can start repairing the damage and building up a good future.

Sincerely,

Ian MacGregor [signature]

Contrct of Employment

Payslip

Transfer letter

Leter from Ian MacGregor