Coal Bosses Fight on in Pay Dispute
By Dave Black
Britian’s biggest coal company will tomorrow
Almost 360 workers at Ellington Colliery in Northumberland have been waiting a year for payments of around pounds 6,000 each from their former employer, UK Coal.
They were awarded the cash when a Newcastle employment tribunal ruled in April that the company shut down the pit without carrying out the required consultations with the workforce and the National Union of Mineworkers.
Tomorrow lawyers acting for UK Coal will ask an Employment Appeals Tribunal in London to overturn the ruling, on the grounds that severe flooding which forced the mine’s closure meant it was impossible to give the workers the statutory 90 days’ notice.
The tribunal – comprising a judge and two lay members – will make its decision on the appeal following a two-day hearing at which both UK Coal and the NUM will argue their case.
The NUM has already claimed that, if it loses for a second time, UK Coal could take its appeal all the way to Europe and the House of Lords, meaning the ex-miners could have to wait years for their money.
Ellington Colliery was shut with immediate effect in January 2005 amid claims that the severe underground flooding had made it too dangerous to operate.
A year ago the industrial tribunal accepted the NUM’s claim that UK Coal closed the colliery for financial reasons and failed to give workers the required redundancy notice. It made a protective award in lieu of wages for the full consultation period. In a scathing ruling, tribunal chairman Michael Malone said UK Coal had deliberately falsified information regarding the consultation period with workers and supplied misleading documentation about the reasons for closure.
Yesterday NUM national chairman and former Northumberland secretary, Ian Lavery, said it was wrong that UK Coal could drag the affair out for so long after such a clear victory for the union at the Newcastle tribunal.
He added: “We are now at an appeal, two years on from the closure of Ellington, and not one person has received a penny of what they are entitled to. This money could make a huge difference to the lives of the men who lost their jobs, and to their families.
“If this appeal fails, I would sincerely hope that UK Coal will accept the decision and not take it any further. We have tried to negotiate a settlement with them, but that has not proved possible.”
UK Coal spokesman Stuart Oliver said the company was appealing because the tribunal ruling was a landmark one involving complex issues which needed to be tested. “There was catastrophic flooding at Ellington Colliery which meant we were unable to provide the 90- day consultation period which the NUM is seeking payment for,” he said.
Long-serving mineworker Allan Stewart fears some of his ex- colleagues will die waiting for the money they are owed by UK Coal.
Mr Stewart, 62, of Bedlington who worked in the coal industry for 46 years and at Ellington Colliery for 25, is one of those waiting to receive the payments – but is convinced that the company will take its appeal as far as possible.
He said: “We just don’t know how long this will drag on but the sad fact is there are people dying in the meantime. We just recently lost a former colleague in his 40s. We have been waiting two years for this money and it would make a big difference to people.”
(c) 2007 The Journal – Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.