CLAIM AGAINST MINERS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25732, 18 February 1949, Page 7

CLAIM AGAINST MINERS

£12,000 FOR COAL LOST IN STRIKE MEN TO DISCUSS BRITISH BOARD’S ACTION (N.Z. Press Association-Copyright) (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON. Feb. 17. “The miners at the Whitburn colliery, Shields, are calling a mass meeting on Sunday to discuss a claim for £12,000 which they believe the National Coal Board is going to make against them for coal lost through their 16-day strike from January 13,” says the “Daily Telegraph." “It has been estimated that 25,000 tons of coal were lost through the strike, anti a miners' official said that the board had informed the miners that a claim of 237 shillings a man would probably be made. The claim would affect all workers over 18 years of age of the 1400 who were involved in the strike. The miners are going to ask that the claim be waived.” The labour correspondent of “The Times” says: “The National Coal Board informed the National Union of Mineworkers that it refused to admit any liability under the war-time cost-of-living bonus beyond the 32d a shift now being paid. A claim for the concession of free or cheap coal to miners in Cumberland and Lancashire has also been rejected. It is proposed, however, to take the matter of free coal to arbitration. “It is clear that the Coal Board is disinclined to make any further costly concessiohs to the miners until they can be justified by increased production. A claim for two weeks’ holiday pay was recently rejected.”