Why miners say

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shop stewards in the NHS, HOI WHAT would you do if your hard graft.

All the talk of the NUM mated by the NUM, are closures. going to cut your wages by claim being ridiculously currently undervalued to the between £15 and £32 a: extortionate clearly ignores tuna nf enma flEn million The meeting can forge valuable links between stewards' committees in different parts of the coun try, and help make a real assessment of the state of the dispute and the way forward.

Although-the event has rightly been billed as a "meeting' - links between local committees are not yet sufficiently developed that a representative conference of shop stewards can be called unofficially — it can also help to develop the campaign fot such a conference.

The organisers have quite rightly invited full time officials and repres entatives of the TUC health services committee to attend the meeting. It is vital Called: jointly by Leicester Health Service coordinating committee and Sheffield Health Workers Joint Shop Stewards Committee. Attendance: open to all FOR THE 12% -CORSE WHAT would you do if your employer told you he was employer told you he was going to cut your wages by between £15 and £32 a week? No doubt you would go mad and there would be an immediate strike.

Well, this is what the miners are being faced with. The National Coal Board's offer of 7.2% across the board is, in effect, a wage cut. Since March 1975 prices have shot ahead of wages to such an extent that even if the NUM's claim - was conceded in full, all grades of underground workers would still be taking a drop in real wages.

A face worker on the highest grade stands to lose £32.75 in real terms if the NCB offer is accepted. The lowest grade surface worker would lose £15.25 - not a lot to show for seven years' hard graft.

All the talk of the NUM claim being ridiculously extortionate clearly ignores the economic facts of life. Nor will it mean a greater burden on tax payers, although. miners are tax payers too.

Between April 1981 and March 1982 the miners received two wage rises -9.8% and 8.7%. NCB figures show that wage costs rose by only 5.9% in that period. The NCB can afford the claim and should be made to cough up.

For a start they could cut out overtime. They have already admitted that cutting 1% of overtime would save the NCB £12 million. So by cutting overtime from its current level of 14% to 4%, the NCB could increase the present offer by yes' about £10 à week. about £10 à week.

Coal stocks, it is estimated by the NUM, are currently undervalued to the tune of some £150 million.

NCB accounts show that last year it paid an extra 33% in interest charges, 24% in depreciation, and 29.5% in those mysterious "other charges"

All this money could go to make up the miners' claim in full. And even if the full claim was paid for by raising the price of coal, it would still mean only another £4.50 a ton, still leaving coal as the cheapest source of energy available.

It is doubly and trebly important to go all out for the full claim, particularly as the NCB have said nothing about the other parts of the claim - the four-day week, retirement at 55, and salaried wages. valuable role in giving backing.

Messages/money:

Wood Green and Southgate hospital, 135 Bands Green Rd.; London N11.

by John Cunningham (Dinnington NUM) (Dinnington NUM)

They have also yet to They have also yet give a commitment on closures.

Linking pay and closures Linking pay and closures in the ballot is correct, as in the hallnt ic carrent the NCB themselves are linking jobs and money. They have already stated that they will put more money on the table if the NUM will accept 311,000 so-called technological redundancies.

If the NUM lose on this one, it will be back to the 1960s and the Robens era of mass closures and redundancies.

But at the end of the day the argument is a political will go down with them.

A victory for the miners will take us forward, but a defeat will take us back decades. We stand at the crossroads. Vote yes for a fight and for a future.

by Jenny Fisher

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one - if the miners go down, the trade union movement