Mining Union Victory 10 Years On
By admin
Issued on behalf of NACODS South Wales Area
Miners and their families in Wales are over half a billion pounds better off as a result of a Trade Union victory 10 years ago today. (WEDNESDAY FEB 6)
On February 6 1998, Welsh mining union NACODS South Wales Area won the biggest personal injury case in history. For 10 years, the union had been engaged in a David v Goliath battle against the National Coal Board, followed by the British Coal Corporation and then the Department of Trade and Industry in London.
The cases were started by the Union General Secretary, Bleddyn Hancock in 1988 and finally came to trial in October 1996. It was the longest trial of a personal injury claim in British legal history. NACODS was represented by Gareth Morgan and Peter Evans of Hugh James Solicitors, Merthyr Tydfil.
The British Government was forced to pay compensation to miners and their families after it had refused to accept liability for debilitating chest diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis. NACODS South Wales Area was the only union who fought and won the chest disease cases.
As a result of a court order, a claims handling agreement was finally signed by the Government in September 1999. Under that agreement more than 105,000 miners, widows and their families have claimed compensation in Wales. The total paid out by December 2007 was more than £509million.
NACODS General Secretary, Bleddyn Hancock, said: “As a result of our members’ epic struggle, and our great success in the courts, hundreds of thousands of miners have benefited. The compensation has made a vast difference to the lives of some very disabled and in some cases, terminally ill, former miners who have been crippled with chest disease.
“The future of our union was at risk because of our massive commitment to win these cases. The men were fighting for breath and we were fighting for justice for them. “
The compensation scheme is due to be wound up in the middle of 2009, when the last of nearly 600,000 claims will be settled.
The government is continuing to contest claims by former surface workers who worked in very dusty conditions in colliery coal preparation plants. Once again, the government has denied liability and solicitors are preparing court cases to try and get compensation for them. The government is also denying liability for coal miners crippled by arthritis of the knee and other knee problems caused by miners’ work which NACODS South Wales Area is again fighting.
Bleddyn Hancock said: “The cases we are still fighting on behalf of the miners show the Government has learnt nothing from the last ten years.”
