WIREDGOV

Coal unions welcomed the announcement from Energy Minister Michael Fallon that around three-quarters of the jobs at two mines under threat – Thoresby in Nottinghamshire and Kellingley in North Yorkshire – would be secure for another year.

But the four unions – the NUM, BACM-TEAM, NACODS and GMB – expressed disappointment at the decision to axe 340 jobs immediately, as well as the government’s refusal to apply to Europe for permission to use state aid to keep the mines open until at least 2018.

Commenting on the announcement TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Faced with the choice between closing two of the UK’s three remaining coal mines next year or of fighting for their future, the government has gone for the short-term option and taken the easy way out.

“UK Coal is clearly in trouble. Miners and their families will be relieved to learn that ministers have avoided UK Coal’s impending insolvency by agreeing the terms of a repayable, fixed term, commercial loan. But that will come as small comfort to the 340 workers whose jobs disappear next month.

“But there is a far better, socially just alternative. Unions have presented the government with the case for a sensible rescue plan for the mines that would cost less than the final bill for closing Thoresby and Kellingley in May 2015.

“All ministers have to do is apply to Europe to use £60m of taxpayers’ money in state aid to protect the 2,000 jobs at risk, support the UK’s fledgling carbon capture & storage (CCS) industry using UK coal, and strengthen our energy security, rather than increase our dependency on Russian coal imports.

“Coal production has a future with CCS, but only if ministers are prepared to give the industry a fighting chance. Unions will continue to make the case for coal – a UK energy supply that is secure, cheap and one which means our energy bills are less susceptible to price fluctuations in the international energy market.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The TUC’s four affiliated unions with members employed in the UK’s coal-mining industry have had several meeting with Michael Fallon this month about the future of UK Coal. The four unions are the National Union of Mineworkers, the British Association of Colliery Management – Technical, Energy and Administrative Management, the National Association of Collilery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers, and the GMB.

- Asked on BBC Breakfast TV last Wednesday whether he was ready to act to ‘keep these mines alive’, the Prime Minister said: “Yes, we will do everything we can. We are talking to the company, we are talking to other businesses related to this company. We will do everything we can to help them.” He added: “There are obviously limits. This is taxpayers’ money that is involved. But we will work with them as closely as we can. I am in the business of trying to save jobs, of making sure we have diverse supplies of energy, so if I can help I will help. We want to do everything we can to keep people in their jobs, to keep businesses going.” www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2014-04-03/cameron-promises-government-h elp-for-miners

- The mining unions believe the UK government should make a state aid application to the European Commission, estimated to be around £60m, to secure the future of Thoresby and Kellingley mines, operating and producing coal out to 2018 and saving 2,000 jobs, and many more in UK Coal’s supply chain. Governments in Spain, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic have used state aid to protect the viability of their coal industries.

- From now until 2018, a state aid programme would ensure that the two mines facing closure continue to produce around 20 million tonnes of indigenous coal. The alternative involves closing the coal mines, increasing the UK’s dependency on imported coal, of which over 20 million tonnes a year comes from Russia, weakening our energy security in troubled times – adding to the risk of higher energy bills for consumers.

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

Contacts:

Media enquiries:

Liz Chinchen   T: 020 7467 1248    M: 07778 158175    E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth    T: 020 7467 1372    M: 07717 531150     E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk