The first of three films produced by the Steel Bank Co-op in which discussions are held between reginal representatives from Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and South Wales of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) along with Janet Hudson from Sheffield Women Against Pit Closures about the failure of mass-picketing during the 1984/95 Miners Strike. Intercut through parts of the discussions is archive footage of miners clashing with police on picket lines in Nottinghamshire and at Orgreave in...

The first of three films produced by the Steel Bank Co-op in which discussions are held between reginal representatives from Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and South Wales of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) along with Janet Hudson from Sheffield Women Against Pit Closures about the failure of mass-picketing during the 1984/95 Miners Strike. Intercut through parts of the discussions is archive footage of miners clashing with police on picket lines in Nottinghamshire and at Orgreave in South Yorkshire. Title: Nottingham, March 1984 Miners picketing outside a Nottingham colliery watched over by the police. Scuffles breakout as a car attempt to break through the picket line. Speaking from a podium Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) speaks about mass-picketing changes back to the picket line and a line of policemen watching over a miner as he returns to work during the dispute passing crowds of miners booing at him as he passes. Dan Canniff from the South Wales NUM comments about the problem with the pickets was that they were boys ‘messing about’ getting arrested and bad publicity, a lesson he believes the union hasn’t learned from. Title: Learning Lessons A Discussion on the Strategy of the Miners' Strike Part One: A Debate on Mass Picketing Seated in a room Janet Hudson from Sheffield Women Against Pit Closures, Allan Baker from South Wales NUM and Paul Whetton from the Nottinghamshire NUM discuss the use of mass-picketing in Nottinghamshire during the 1984-85 Miners Strike and why it was counter-productive in the fight against the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher and the police. A second unidentified representative from Nottinghamshire explains the difference between picketing in the 1972 mines strike from 1984/85 and is critical of the results and the reasons why miners in the county resisted getting involved in the strike. Title: Mass Picketing Orgreave Dan Canniff talks about the importance of Orgreave and why the miners always lost against Margaret Thatcher as they didn’t condemn the violence and thus, they lost the public support. He believed they should have focused more on the ‘government violence’ with the likes of the closure of pits which was the reason the miners went on strike. Inky Thompson from the Yorkshire NUM talks about the tools and technology used by ‘the establishment’ to create a politically controlled mob with the police able to move about the country quickly. Because of this he won’t condemn violence at Orgreave used against men in sneakers, jeans and t-shirts. Howard Wadsworth from the Yorkshire NUM talks about the small number of actual miners from a pit who were on the picket lines. He goes onto explain that as the strike dragged on these numbers dropped to, in the end, only those who were making money from picketing as it was their only income, remaining on the picket lines. Title: From Saltley Gates to Orgreave Janet Hudson explains that during the 1972 miners strikes they had the support of other industries and unions, and it was their support that help them gain victory. She doesn’t see this support in the current dispute with many ‘confeds’ not wanting to get involved. She is critical of Arthur Scargill and the NUM for not doing the groundwork with other unions before asking them to give their support. She also sees that with the mass de-industrialisation of Britain unions and workers are in a very different position from 1972 and she doesn’t believe there is a guarantee that people won’t cross the pick line because of a new phenomenon known as Thatcherism. Allan Baker from South Wales NUM believes a fresh approach to industrial action needs to be look at as with the advent of Thatcherism, which is different from the type of disputes fought by the working classes and the unions during the 19th century and the 1972 miner’s dispute. He sees that the fight now being with giant multi-national corporations who can afford to withstand the type of industrial action that worked in previous disputes as they can live without British coal for potentially months on end. Allan believes that the type of mass-picketing that working in the past will no longer a winning concept. Title: Discussion chaired by John Lowe, Sheffield July 1985 Additional video material and thanks to Keith Brookes Thanks to Sheffield Independent Film Credit: Cameras David Rea and Jess York Camera Assistant Noemie Mendelle Production Assistant Dinah Ward and Susie Field Sound Peter Biddle Direction and Editing Simon Reynell Title: Produced by Steel Bank Film Co-op under the terms of the A.C.T.T. Workshop Declaration, with financial assistance from Channel 4 Television End title: © Steel Bank Co-op 1985