Durham Miners Gala Sat 14th July 2012

"I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our comrades, friends and supporters who will be joining us in Durham on the occasion of the 128th Durham Big Meeting.
The Gala goes from strength to strength and we have to thank our banner and community groups for much of this success. They play a vital role in maintaining our links with the former mining towns and villages of the County - communities bearing the brunt of the Government's savage attacks on the social wage and the very fabric of the Welfare state.
Whether, young, middle aged, or old no one is safe from this vicious Tory/Liberal coalition. On the one hand they reward bankers for failure, allow politicians to get away with dodgy expenses claims and reduce taxes for the rich. They then conclude that the solution to the crisis is to clobber the poorest in society. And now while every family lives in fear of unemployment we have some lunatic advising the Government to make it easier to sack workers. To make matters worse they insult our intelligence by saying 'we are all in it together'. Well we weren't in it together when the big profits were being made and just how much our people think 'we are all in it together' was demonstrated in the results of the local government elections.

In County Durham and Tyne and Wear the Tories and Liberals were obliterated - and rightly so. They represent the interests of big business and capitalism and we want no truck with them.

Although it is now 18 years since the last pit on the Durham Coalfield closed, the fight to get justice for our former miners who suffer from painful and debilitating diseases continues.

Although we have has considerable success in some fields we are still struggling to establish compensation for our members who are sufferring from the painful and crippling symptoms of arthritis of the knee - known in the industry as 'miners knee'.

We are at the moment awaiting a judgment from the Court of Appeal which we hope will allow our litigation against the Coal Authority to proceed to the High Court. If we lose the case it will not only deny many of our members, now advanced in years, the justice they deserve but the legal costs will have a profound impact on the Durham Miners Association.

We are very proud of the success of our Compensation department which is due to the dedicated work of Davy Guy. unfortunately as we go to press Dave is too ill to take part in the preparations for the Gala. His struggle against serious illness over the past 4 & a half years has been an inspiration to us all and our thoughts today are with Dave and his family.

In a county where the County Council has been labour controlled for 93 years, where all Metropolitan Borough Councils have vast Labour majorities and where every constituency regularly elects Labour MP's, it is fitting that, after an absence of 23 years a Labour party leader h.as accepted an invitation to speak at the Gala and we of course welcome Ed Miliband to Durham.

We also welcome the new banners to this year's Gala from Burnhope, Felling, Brandon and Heworth, all making a reappearance so many years after their pits closed. There has hardly been a year without new banners being brought to the Gala. They are a credit to the communities who have produced them and a fitting tribute to our forefathers who fought so hard for our future. We must dedicate ourselves at this Gala to defend all the gains they made for us and to fight for a better future for the next generation - there is no other reason for the trade unions and the labour movement to exist.

As the European financial system teeeters on the brink of total meltdown it is now clear to all that capitalism has failed miserably. As we go to press the Spanish miners are fighting a life and death battle for the future of their industry and their communities. They are as we were in 1984/85 the victims of organised state violence and we pledge to them our solidarity and assistance as they did for us 28 years ago.

We have never had a better opportunity to fight back and establish a society based on the needs of people and not on the profit and greed of the few. Let today's Gala be that launchpad.

Have a great day and a safe journey home.

Best Wishes, Dave Hopper," General Secretary of the DMA, NE region NUM

Taken from the 128th Durham Miners Gala programme, pages 11-13, Sat 14th July 2012.