The second 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 consequences and effects on miners and their communities following their defeat in March 1985. Title: Return to work, Woolley Colliery, 5th March 1985 Marching beside their colliery banner miners marching...

The second 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 consequences and effects on miners and their communities following their defeat in March 1985. Title: Return to work, Woolley Colliery, 5th March 1985 Marching beside their colliery banner miners marching along a street towards Woolley Colliery in West Yorkshire. Dan Canniff from the South Wales NUM explains that the first thing that needs to be done is recognise that the miners lost the strike and why. Title: Learning Lessons A Discussion on the Strategy of the Miners’ Strike Part Two: The Ending of the Strike Janet Hudson from Sheffield Women Against Pit Closures looks back on the strike remembering the positive mood of miners up until August and how it all changed when negotiations to end the stroke broke down. She believes a settlement should have been reached as many realised that the fight was going to be hard and tough and that they were going to lose. She talks about the challenges of calling those men who went back to work ‘scabs’ especially those who’d been out for a year or more. Howard Wadsworth from the Yorkshire NUM agrees with Janet and believes the union should have had to the courage to tell the membership the strike was lost and to take the deputies agreement offered in October 1984. It wasn’t a very good agreement, but it was agreed upon by the NUM and was better than nothing. Inky Thompson also of the Yorkshire NUM disagree with Howard with regards the agreement which he believed would have been a sell-out by the national leadership going back on everything that the strike was about as he believed it was an agreement to shut pits. With regards how the strike finished, he believed that there were those in the union that believed in the government and National Coal Board (NCB) propaganda, he believed the strike should have continued as victory was in sight. Dan Canniff from again disagrees with Inky believing if the miners had stayed out another 8-12 weeks it wouldn’t have made any difference. Once the first miner went back to work the strike was beginning to crumble. Paul Whetton from Nottinghamshire NUM disagrees with Dan with regards men going back, he doesn’t see this as a sign of defeat rather men being pushed as far as they could go. He agrees with Inky that if they have stayed out a few more weeks they could have won. Allan Baker also from the South Wales NUM talks about not being able to negotiate with either the government or NCB to find a settlement for the strike, and it was from this position that the miners in South Wales made the decision to go back when they did as they believe they would have been in a worse position had they decided to stay out on strike. Another procession of miners returning to work parading through the village. Howard Wadsworth talks about his concerns now that the strike is over and the miners defeated, he fears the NUM itself could be lost. He provides details on a breakaway union, the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) set up by Roy Lynk and David Prendergast, and the possibility that mining as an industry could become non-unionised. Paul Whetton doesn’t believe there is any chance that Lynk and Prendergast will get their majority, his members in Nottinghamshire have said they don’t want to break away from the NUM. Inky Thompson agrees with Howard Wadsworth in that the NUM can’t afford to be complacent. He sees the government and NCB using the same psychological tactics from the strike to give support the UDM. He believes miners did return to work with their heads held high, but since then miners have been back, they have been treated poorly by the NCB to such an extent that the moral in the industry is at an all-time low. Howard Wadsworth states that if offers of redundancy were given now the workforce in the miners would be halved as people want to get out. He sees this as one of the defeats of the strike. Over the following title a photograph of Arthur Scargill, President of the NUM, being arrested by police. Title: Questions of Leadership The film comes to an end with each member of the group giving their opinion of the NUM national leadership under Arthur Scargill and Peter Heathfield. Howard Wadsworth is critical of the strike being to centralised on a national level with those on a local level not knowing what was going on. Inky Thompson is supportive of the work of Scargill and Heathfield believing they were doing the best under the circumstances. The film ends on Allan Baker who believes the NUM have leaders they deserve as they are on the same level of political consciousness as the miners themselves, but there are issues with getting different views discussed. 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