We had a union meeting this morning which was very stormy. I had a real go at the officials for the lacksadaisical way they dealt with Kath when I was in prison and for not visiting earlier as Wearmouth had done. I also criticised the payment of £30 to the men who went down to Brighton to lobby the TUC. It’s totally irresponsible to waste money so blatantly in the 27th week of the strike, especially as we need more money to try and increase picketing. For once the Secretary agreed with me on both points and has promised to look into it to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
We got nothing but lame excuses when we asked for a list of names and addresses, such as we can’t hassle men if they don’t want to picket, and they know where to come if they do. This negative attitude fails to take into account the fact that a lot of our men live a long distance from the pit and can’t afford to come on picket duty. We could provide transport from Lodge funds, which haven’t been touched yet, and never will be if the bastards on the stage are allowed to make the decisions. What’s the point of having funds if there’s no pit? Bloody short sighted, the lot of them!
The one positive thing to come out of the meeting is we seem to be getting a good base of support amongst the lads and we need to build on that.
