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
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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.
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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.
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