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British coal workers have called off a four-week strike following a 35% pay offer from the new Labour government in what is being seen as a resounding victory for the miners.
Around 260,000 miners have accepted weekly pay rises ranging from £6.71 to £16.31. The offer is worth more than double the figure on offer under Edward Heath's government.
The 16-week dispute, which has seen coal production come to a complete standstill in the past month, finally ended just 48 hours after Mr Heath's Conservative party was voted out of power.
The settlement, which was accepted by the National Union of Mineworkers executive by 25 votes to two, will run for 12 months, while a further review is carried out.
It will be formally sealed on Friday 8 March and coal production will begin again on 11 March.
Joe Gormley, President of the NUM, said: "We have proved that when the spirit and willingness is there, a settlement can be achieved in one day rather than the long drawn out exercise we have been involved in unnecessarily."
Swift intervention
Sweeping concessions by the National Coal Board and swift intervention by the new Employment Secretary, Michael Foot, ensured the settlement on offer was quickly increased.
The NCB's original offer of £45 million a year for the miners was at first doubled to £90m.
But following further negotiations this was then increased to nearly £113m.
As a result underground workers will now receive a new rate of £36 a week which is £8.71 more than their current level of pay.
Face workers meanwhile will be paid £45 per week - £8.21 more than their present wages.
The only concession the miners made was over back pay, they did not pursue a claim for improved wages from 1 November.
Both the NUM and the NCB are currently undertaking an inquiry into pay, conditions and the future of the mining industry to help prevent any further confrontations.
Apart from the damage to the national economy, the strike is estimated to have cost the NCB around £68 million in lost production.
But the NCB will have saved nearly £40 million in wages by the time the coal miners return to work.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_4207000/4207111.stm
Around 260,000 miners have accepted weekly pay rises ranging from £6.71 to £16.31. The offer is worth more than double the figure on offer under Edward Heath's government.
The 16-week dispute, which has seen coal production come to a complete standstill in the past month, finally ended just 48 hours after Mr Heath's Conservative party was voted out of power.
The settlement, which was accepted by the National Union of Mineworkers executive by 25 votes to two, will run for 12 months, while a further review is carried out.
It will be formally sealed on Friday 8 March and coal production will begin again on 11 March.
Joe Gormley, President of the NUM, said: "We have proved that when the spirit and willingness is there, a settlement can be achieved in one day rather than the long drawn out exercise we have been involved in unnecessarily."
Swift intervention
Sweeping concessions by the National Coal Board and swift intervention by the new Employment Secretary, Michael Foot, ensured the settlement on offer was quickly increased.
The NCB's original offer of £45 million a year for the miners was at first doubled to £90m.
But following further negotiations this was then increased to nearly £113m.
As a result underground workers will now receive a new rate of £36 a week which is £8.71 more than their current level of pay.
Face workers meanwhile will be paid £45 per week - £8.21 more than their present wages.
The only concession the miners made was over back pay, they did not pursue a claim for improved wages from 1 November.
Both the NUM and the NCB are currently undertaking an inquiry into pay, conditions and the future of the mining industry to help prevent any further confrontations.
Apart from the damage to the national economy, the strike is estimated to have cost the NCB around £68 million in lost production.
But the NCB will have saved nearly £40 million in wages by the time the coal miners return to work.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_4207000/4207111.stm
