International solidarity with British miners
In Belgium ...the boycotting of coal bound for Britain has at last begun. From December 12 the transport unions - the FBVV, the CSC and CGSLB - have been refusing to load coal onto the ships. A leaflet put out by the Antwerp joint union committee calls for "practical solidarity' on the part of all workers in the Belgian ports.
The boycott began in Ghent, where most of the coal exported from Belgium leaves for Britain. According to UBOT, the transport section of the FTB (the Socialist Party-dominated union federation), three boats had been boycotted by December 17. One was able to leave with half a load, and two were simply not loaded. The coal was thus transferred to ferneurzen where not all the workers are unionised.
Here the coal was loaded directly by a transport firm, Ovett, whose workers are not dockers.
From the very beginning of the miners' strike the import of coal to Britain has gone up by 81 per cent in the first ten months of 1984, compared with the same period in 1983. Imports from the Netherlands have gone up ten times and imports from Poland have gone up 162 per cent. Imports from the USA have doubled. Compared to this Belgian exports are tiny, but the example of Belgian workers can be followed by other workers. A boycott has already been agreed among the transport unions of Belgium, the Netherlands and West Germany at a meeting with the TUC (Trades Union Congress) in London on December 8.
This must be put into action.
A petition circulating within the Belgian workers' movement states the matter very clearly: The entire movement must make sure that not a single piece of coal gets to England through our country?
Miners' children at Christmas (DR) International Viewpoint 14 January 1985
In Luxembourg..the following statement appeared recently in all the major newspapers in support of the National Union of Mineworkers.
"The attempt by the British courts to seize the British miners' funds and thus to try to break their resistance so as to finish, once and for all, the strike which has already lasted for ten months, is an outrage. It will unleash solidarity action with the striking miners over the channel, all over Europe.
Three major European trade unions - German, Dutch and
Belgian - have this weekend decided to do everything possible to limit the export of coal to Britain.
*In Luxembourg, where young European trade unionists met last week and have already made collections for their British colleagues, we of the FNCTTEL (youth section of the railway workers) solidarise with the NUM and demand that the British courts not be allowed to touch the NUM's belongings in Luxstatement went on to point out that capitalist firms and governments, even military dictatorships could leave their money in banks in Luxembourg without any risk of it being touched. Why was a different rule to be applied to the NUM? It urged trade unionists to step up donations to the NUM.
In France ...President is helping Thatcher to break the strike by supplying coal to Great Britain. In a semi-clandestine operation, coal was taken from Gardanne in the South, with another town, Villeurbanne, as the supposed destination. On arrival, according to an internal memo of the French railways board, the SNCF, the destination was changed. The CGT (the Communist-dominated union) got wind of this however and managed to foil the plans (see IV, No 65, December 10, 1084).
Furthermore, it appears that Thatcher has discussed with the French government the possibility of France supplying electricity to avoid power cuts in Britain.
But if the bosses' governments are cooperating to break the strike, the support for the miners at a rank-and-file level inside the trade unions is also increasing.
At Christmas, several delegations went over to Britain to take toys and money to the miners and their families. Amongst these was the CFDT (Socialist Party-dominated union) health section (Paris region) which took two convoys over before Christmas. One contained 150 dolls for miners' children from the Bella-Poupee factory where women workers have been fighting a protracted battle against redundancies. One convoy was stopped at customs in Britain and held for 24 hours. They were only finally allowed into the country when the French consul intervened on their behalf!
The CGT has previously sent over more than 100,000 presents for miners' families and were planning a further convoy in the New Year.
In Sri Lanka ...a total of 21 trade-union organisations have called upon the British government and the National Coal Board to enter into negotiations with the National Union of Mineworkers and settle the strike instead of using the police to attack the strikers and seek to starve them back to work.
Copies of the joint letter were sent to Mr lan MacGregor of the National Coal Board, Mr Arthur Scargill of the National Union of Mineworkers and the High Commissioner for Britain
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strong connection historically between the slate miners and the coal miners.
What is the role of the Wales Congress in the solidarity movement?
What we've been doing is setting