Coal miners lobby for longer strike

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 8

Coal miners lobby for longer strike

NZPA-Reuter Sheffield* Britain’s striking miners were expected to lobby their leaders in full force today in a bid to continue their month-old protest against pit closures. But union conservatives said that they were confident the National Union of Mineworkers’ executive, would resist militant pressure and call a national ballot on the strike. The procedure has repeatedly in the last year foiled calls from the union’s president Mr Arthur Scargill, for pit stoppages.

Industry sources said that his 24-member executive was almost evenly split on the issue, as were the union’s 180,000 miners which left Mr Scargill to cast the decisive vote. The Marxist leader, who has consistently argued against a need for a ballot, was aiming at a special delegate meeting likely to produce a more militant result, the sources said. Only 46 of Britain’s 176 collieries were working normally yesterday, two more than on Wednesday.