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VIEWS FROM THE FLOOR
JOE WHELAN - Nottinghamshire
Nottingham Area Secretary and NEC member JOE WHELAN stressed that it was time for the NUM to take "a more vigorous stand on this question and we should demand a bigger say in the running of the industry to bring about real industrial democracy.
"Eighty per cent of British industry is still privately owned and run for private profit. The nationalised industries are a step forward and they have brought about greater consultation - but it has been consultation after decisions have been made.
Pit Closures
"I appreciate the fact that we have a Colliery Review procedure but where a pit is being closed the decision is made by the NCB and the NUM then has to gather its experts to try and stop the closure.
"Take another example - the arguments over the training of workmens inspectors. If we had more control, we wouldn't be arguing over this. And there's also the scandal where private manufacturers are making millions out of the industry when we should be making our own machinery in our own workshops with our own craftsmen."
KEN TOON - South Derbyshire
South Derbyshire Area Secretary and NEC member KEN TOON said that his Area believed that it was possible, without taking away the industry’s statutory responsibilities, for it to progress in a way better than the present set-up.
We Are Qualified!
"If people say we are not qualified to run the industry," he said, "they should remember that the country is governed by elected representatives in the House of Commons and at local government level.
"There are lots of things we don’t like about the consultative procedures, but that's all the more reason for us to be in there fighting. Let's agree to get on with industrial democracy and take the decisions ourselves - and then we will only have ourselves to blame if they are wrong decisions."
MERION EVANS - South Wales
South Wales delegate MEIRION EVANS pointed out that there was not just "confusion in the NUM about industrial democracy, there is confusion in the whole Labour Movement."
Participation
"The NCB proposals are a form of worker participation", he said, "and are similar to the scheme operating in Germany and in no way do they give working people control.
"I support the proposals that the NUM put forward in 1976 for elected management teams. There must be representatives of workers on whatever boards are set up, but those representatives would have to be elected by their respective unions.
"We should be entitled to workers' representatives and we need two-thirds union representation. The NCB proposals would be a first step."
BERNARD DONAGHY - Lancashire
Lancashire Area President BERNARD DONAGHY reminded delegates that neither the trade unions nor the workers' control the economic circumstances in which they work. "When you are talking about industrial democracy," he pointed out, "you have to bear this in mind.
Corruption & Collaboration
"Power corrupts and we live in a very corrupt society, and I am concerned about the corruption of power. If we have pit committees democratically elected, what safeguards can we believe in to fight corruption? How can I advocate a system of democracy to members at the pit when I am not subject to any democratic election?
"I want to know how much responsibility we can ask our members to take on without having real power. Will these management teams with a majority of our members have the power to appoint colliery managers? Would BACM members be prepared to apply for a job knowing that the men who will appoint them will be ordinary miners?
"Co-operation and consultation we have in the industry, and we should have more of it and we should have it as a right. But collaboration, no. The role of a trade union in any society is to be independent and look after the interests of its members."
JACK DUNN - Kent
Kent Area Secretary JACK DUNN remarked that he was worried that the Forum had been called "not because of the desire to obtain a better form of industrial democracy but because of the Fifth Directive of the EEC, because of the Bullock Report and imminence of Government Planning Agreements."
The Kent Area had done a massive amount of research into the subject, he explained, "But we have talked to workers in other countries to find out their reactions and it is tremendously different to what we have been told.
"We will claim that we know more about this from workers than from the National Coal Board. In Germany, we met workers who regarded their system of 'co-determination' with the same cynicism as our lads regard consultation at pit level.
Participation Not Enough
"We are against participation - we are for workers' control, we are for the miners taking over this industry, so let's have an end to the confusion over what industrial democracy means. We are talking about democracy for workers that involves workers.
"We appreciate that social and political change in any country has a distinct relationship with that country's development, and we want a British form of industrial democracy that corresponds to British conditions and British historical development .
Step Towards Socialism
"We do not say that industrial democracy is a means of obtaining easy reforms, but we do see it as a step forward for socialism in Britain. We want to get rid of privilege, patronage and the profit motive - we want social control of society as a whole.
"The parliamentary system is here to stay, so how do we get about achieving socialism? Economic struggle does have a place, but it is not the only way to achieve radical social change. The strikes in 1972 and 1974 were tremendous examples of economic struggle, but apart from the very important fact of creating political consciousness, what impact have they had on weakening capitalism in Great Britain and increasing the desire for socialism?"
LAWRENCE CUNLIFFE - Lancashire
Lancashire delegate Lawrence Cunliffe stressed that "we have not done our job at the grass roots level on industrial democracy".
"After this Forum," he said, "We’ve all got to go back to the pits and graft - we will not get any feedback unless we do that because there is still a large degree of bewilderment and confusion.
Toe In the Door
"This is not something we can simply decide to adopt. It will be a long, steady, gradual progression and if we can't get it all overnight then we go for the next best thing. What the lads will expect is some form of general control and we are starting to get our toe in the door."
DES DUTFIELD - South Wales
"There are no halfway measures in this matter," declared South Wales delegate Des Dutfield.
No Halfway Measures
"You either have control or you do not have it, and unless and until we have it the responsibility for the running of the industry must lie where it is now, and not on the shoulders of the workmen."
KEN CAPSTICK- Yorkshire
Yorkshire delegate Ken Capstick warned that the NUM must be careful not to "fall into the trap of taking part in management committees".
Risk of Collaboration
"We will be taking part in decisions based on management priorities," he warned. "We have a nationalised industry, but it is run on capitalist lines. We do live in a Them-and-Us society and we run the risk of becoming 'Them' in the eyes of the rank-and-file."