British coalminers ban overtime

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33382, 14 November 1973, Page 17

British coalminers ban overtime

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, November 13. Britain’s 270,000 coalminers have begun a ban on overtime working, a move which may well expedite the threatened introduction of oil and petrol rationing.

| With the country facing a serious energy’ crisis brought about by the Middle East war and Arab cuts in oil production, the miners seized the chance to press their claim for pay increases of up to £12.70 a week. The Government, maintaining its stringent controls aimed at controlling inflation, replied with an offer of around £5 a week. The miners refused, and announced a ban on overtime, with immediate effect. Mr Joe Gormley, the ! miners’ union leader, said i yesterday: “If properly I applied, the overtime ban will mean that few pits will be working by next week.” The State-run National Coal Board said today that more than 500,000 tons of coal, worth £sm, would be lost every week the ban was in force. Government Ministers say that the ban will prove crippling to the country if it continues, and that it is therefore an important factor in deciding if and when oil rationing will become necessary.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister (Mr Heath) denied today that the introduction of rationing would be discussed at today’s meeting of the Cabinet. It is the effect of the miners’ action on Britain’s electricity supplies that could influence the Government’s thinking: 70 per cent of the nation’s electric power supplies are produced by coal, 20 per cent by oil, and the remaining 10 per cent by hydro and nuclear power. The power stations estimate that they have enough

,coal to last about 11 weeks, at which point they would have to put the oil-fired stations on maximum output. But if there were no oil,

[industry would soon grind to 'a halt without electricity. A spokesman for the Central Electricity Generating Board commented: “Any reduction in one form of fuel without recourse to another is bound to increase the danger to the national economy.”

Government, sources emphasise that any decision to proceed with oil ratiohing would mean at least three weeks to put it into effect. A voluntary 10 per cent savings scheme is thought likely as a first step to conserve oil supplies. London is already facing the threat of widespread power supply cuts because of a dispute by power station engineers. The cuts mark the first serious effects of a ban on working outside normal hours by members of the Electrical Power Engineers’ Association.

Supplies to the remainder of Britain are not expected to be hit at all today.