Your View
ANOTHER SACKED MINER'S LAMENT
Looking back, I can now say that I loved my job, particularly my role
as NUM secretary for Manton Branch. During the strike I took the beatings,
the mental torture of being in jail, the anxiety of living in exile, but
the greatest punishment inflicted on me was being sacked from the job
I loved. During the years that followed I went through all the stages
of bereavement. I had to contend with a government who still wanted me
to suffer. A government who continued to make me suffer by not allowing
me to get work elsewhere and making sure I only received the minimum amount
of financial support.
We are now celebrating 20 years on. I am still paying back what I owe
20 years on. During the strike I was asked on numerous occasions by the
Police and others about my association with Arthur Scargill. 20 years
later I am asked do you think he was right, do you think you were right
to follow his leadership and I reply with a resounding YES.
I do not have any regrets about the way Arthur or myself acted during
the strike but I do have one grievance and that is that Arthur was unable
to get a better deal for those Miners who were sacked.
There is a current campaign to try and get the pension contributions of
those Miners who were sacked and lost everything restored. I would welcome
a concerted effort by our NUM representatives and MPs to get this small
gesture put into place. After all I gave the cause 100% commitment. Is
to much to ask for the same in return.
Thanks
Dave Potts
X NUM Branch Secretary Manton SY.