1942 Betteshanger miners' strike

A statue of a miner at the now-closed coal mine

One of the mine's coal wagons

Background

biggest coal mine in Kent. Had a reputation as the most militant mine in Kent as many of the men who arrived for its construction and opening (1924-27) were those who had been blacklisted from jobs elsehwere as a result of their actions during the 1926 General Strike. A strike in 1938 over the treatment of young miners. Striek was over allowances paid for difficult work. The coal seam at Betteshanger was extremely variable and conditions changed weekly as it was exploited.

The Conditions of Employment and National Arbitration Order 1940 (commonly referred to as Order 1305) This made it an offence for a strike or lock-out to take place without being referred to the Minister for Labour for arbitration. This order was agreed by the TUC. Aimed to prevent war work from being disrupted by strikes.

p29: Order 1305 was supported by the National Joint Consultative Committee at the Ministry of Labour and National Service which included of the British Employers’ Confederation and the Trades Union Congress). Outlawed strikes unless the Ministry of Labour and National Service did not refer the labour dispute to for setlement at a National Arbitration Tribunal within 21 days.

Origins in the opening up of a new coalface (no. 2) November 1941. Hard to work outputs were low with only half of the management-set quota of 4 tons per day being met. Managers accused the miners of deliberately working slowly and reduced wages. Men were paid only for the coal produced, breaching minimum wage per shift agreements made since 1933.

Miners claimed teh reduced outputs were a result of the geology of the seam, which was as little as 2ft high (other seams could be 30ft high).

Men had to work the seam on their knees in a confined space. They also claimed mining equipment was faulty which lost an hour to repairs each shift. Negotiations with management failed which led to the resigantions of the union branch president and secretary. Sir Charles Dought from the Department of Mines was assigned as arbitrator of the case and after one short visit to the seam and advice from a mining specialist issued, on 19 December, his judgement that 4 tons per day was ahcievable and stated that he considered the pay per ton to be generous, though he supported an additional 1s 1d bonus per tonne for the seam.

Doughty was an experience abritrator and soliticor and was familiar with coal mining, though in north-west England.

management closed off the eastern coal face to work no2 seam. Miners alleged his had been done to save the easier mined and more profitable coalface for after the war when government subsidies would be withdrawn.

Strike

Began 9 HJanuary.

Management proceeded with the wage reductions from 8 January/ says 2,000 were on strike on the first day 9 January (not counting surface workers who were prevented from carrying out their jobs by the cessation of the coal supply).

If fine not paid woudl have been imprisonment with hard labour. Only 9 miners agreed to pay the fine and, struggling to find prison places for the remainder, the government reached a settlement and freed the imprisoned officials.

Arose after government arbitration decided against the miners case. The Ministry of Mines decided to prosecute (though Bevin advised them not to). 1,050 men were fined. "bands played and women and children cheered the procesion on its way to court". Other pits in the region held one-day strikes in sympathy..

1,600 strikers.

The strikers were interviewed by Mass-Observation

Much contemporary press reports were critical of the miners who were categorised as anti-patriotic..

The ILP claimed the mminers were patriotic, working during air raids on the pit and that 250 had joined the home guard.

the Home Guard miners continued to turn up for duty guarding the pit during the strike.

A contemporary Daily Express article claimed the strike cost 9,000 tons of coal production

the three union branch leaders were also charged under civil legislation with breach of contract. This charged was withdrawn but only after the prosecution had lectured the court on the miner's alledged unpatriotic conduct which, because the charge was withdrawn, the defendants did not have opportunity to rebut.

Order 1305 had been written in haste and was vaguely worded. Some may not have been aware of the ban on strikes, one of the branch secretaries claimed this in court. The illegal nature of the strike was explained to the miners on 16 January by pffocers from the Department of Mines.

union officials tried at |Canterbury 23 January. The trial focussed only on the legal question of whether the requird 21 days had been given and not on the rights and wrongs of the pay dispute. One official given 2 month sentence and the other 2 one month. The 35 miners on no.2 coalface fined £3 each and the 1,050 other miners £1. with Article 2 of the Conditions of Employment and National Registration Order, 1940, contrary to Article 4 of the said Order and Regulation 58AA of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939’. One of the officials imprisoned, Tudor Davies, was awell respected man in the commuity and a justice of the peace.

before the trial some miners had considered returning to work but the sentences seem t ohave hardened the men's position. A vote on 26 January confirmed the strike would continue into its third week. many of the men's families were suffering in a cold winter from a lack of coal, usually obtained at a reduced price from the colliery. Some resorted to burning furniture and floor boards.

if the men were imprisoned they feared not being able to obtain work at other collieries.

Resolution and aftermath

The Ministry of Labour and the Home Office received a record number of letters in support of the strikers and stating that the sentences impose dby the court were excessive. Several collieries also came out to strike in sympathy. On 28 January an agreement was reached to end the strike, followijng negotiations with the three leaders and leaders, David Rhys Grenfell (Secretary for Mines) and Ebby Edwards (secretary of the Mineworkers’ Federation of Great Britain) at Maidstone Prison. The mine agreed to guarantee the minimum wage as long as the men agreed to a judgement by an arbitrator if the management sconsidered work was being intentionally slowed. The miners also voted to agree to the terms. The terms were an almost complete acceptance of the miners' original demands. Grenfell petitioned the Home Office to free the officials and on 2 February after 11 days of hard labour, sewing mail bags, they received a pardon from the King. They were the last men to be imprisoned during the war directly under Order 1305 (some would be imprisoned for non-payment of fines imposed). No punishment was meted out to the vast majority of miners who refused to pay their fines which were officially rmitted in July 1943 by a government concerned that imprisoning men for nonpayment would result in another strike

Only coal miners strike in the Second World War. Authorities were keen to end the strike over fears it could spread to other miens and threaten production at a key point of the war. Afterwards the government production quotas for the mine were limited, restricting its productivity.

Order 1305 remained in use until 1951. The average number of strikes during the order's operation was actually more than had been seen in any year sicne 1931, though this could have been because the economic conditions meant that strike action was more powerful during this era. The ministry was hesitant to seek legal action against strikers and onyl 109 prosecutions were brought during the war, involving around 6,000 workers. Many of these prosecutions were subsequently dropped or those involved bound over: none were imprisoned.The three imprisoned ahd their sentences commuted.

Most publicised strike of the period. lasted almost 3 weeks.The government settlemen effectively gave the miners what they had demanded

Strike was referred to by the 1968 Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations as an example of the ineffectiveneess of outlawing strikes.