MINERS’ STRIKE 40TH ANNIVERSARY: ‘Wakefield communities are no safer or better off all these years later’

Steve Tulley was a union official and miner at Frickley Colliery during the 1984 strike.

On the 40th anniversary of the industrial dispute, Coun Tulley, who is now a Wakefield district councillor for South Elmsall, said former coalfield areas never really recovered.

Frickley Colliery stayed up until November 1993, where Coun Tulley was National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) branch secretary from 1985 to its closure.

He said there had often been harsh conditions for striking miners when they returned to work in the aftermath of the strike.

By the early 1990s at Frickley, progress had been made between management and workers but it was becoming clear the pit would not be open much longer.

Coun Tulley said “We did eventually turn a corner and got some terms and conditions put back in place.

“But from ‘91 to ‘93 we knew the writing on the wall. We had lost South Kirkby Colliery in 1988.”

Workers were asked to vote on whether to keep the pit open.

Coun Tulley said: “Only 24 of 900-odd voted to keep it open. Managers said if we didn’t take the deal at that time then redundancy sweeteners would be removed.

“I don’t blame anyone else for doing that.

“We weren't defeated at Frickley and we had no end of disputes, sometimes bringing the rest of the coalfields out.

“The fight was still in the men but the pits that had closed brought miners from other pits and we lost some community spirit.”

He said that loss of spirit was evident throughout towns and villages that lost their identity with the closures.

He said: “If you look around some mining villages you wouldn't know there was ever a pit there.

“That is, in my humble opinion, for the worse rather than the better.

“We don’t have the same sense of community anymore and we’ve become a commuter town that has cheaper property than Leeds.

"My community is no better, no safer, no more affluent than it was 40 years ago. Our community and camaraderie is non-existent.”

Coun Tulley believes the government during the strike sought specifically to destroy the labour movement and collective bargaining.

He said: “All governments – but especially Tory governments – hate people to be organised. When you are together you are strong.

"Had everyone stuck together, that strike would have been over in four weeks.”

When Frickley Colliery closed Coun Tulley along with his brothers and brothers-in-law were all out of work.

He said: “It was one of the saddest days. My mum was active in the strikes, she was always on the go, and I remember her saying that in November, ‘I never thought I'd see all my lads and all my lasses' husbands being made redundant on the same day’.

"Some things stick in your mind. I think about it most days. There aren't many people around the country who can say that’s happened to them.”