The Old Hill and Highley District Miners', Enginemen's and Surfacemen's Association, usually known as the Old Hill Miners' Association, was a
trade union representing mineworkers in the
Old Hill district of the
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, in England.
Old Hill was the last area of the
South Staffordshire coalfield to be developed, and the local mining industry was growing when the miners' union was established, in 1870. It soon became known for its militant approach, often striking in order to raise wages or improve working conditions. Unlike other local unions, it refused to take part in the South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire Miners' Wages Board, which took a sliding scale approach to wage - they would automatically rise and fall with the price of coal. This approach was vindicated in 1884, when the board reduced wages, but miners came out on strike, with the backing of the Old Hill union, but the opposition of other local unions. As a result, the strike was lost, and in search of solidarity from workers in other industries, the union affiliated to the
Midland Counties Trades Federation The Midland Counties Trades Federation was a trade union federation bringing together unions involved in engineering in the West Midlands of England.
History
Richard Juggins was the general secretary of the National Amalgamated Association of Nut a ...
(MCTF).
[Eric Taylor, "Winwood, Benjamin", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.II, pp.409–413]
The MCTF was focused on the metal trades, and so the Old Hill Miners' Association switched to the
Midland Counties Miners' Federation when that was formed, in 1886. Unlike the other local miners' unions, it participated enthusiastically in the federation. It briefly left after the federation affiliated to the
Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1889, but soon rejoined. As a result, when all the other local unions merged into the
West Bromwich Miners' Association, Old Hill remained independent.
Despite this, it was always a small union; by 1910, it had 1,116 members.
In 1944, the
National Union of Mineworkers was established, and the union became the Highley District of its Midlands Area. A couple of years later, it merged into the
South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire District.
[ National Union of Mineworkers, "Annual Conference 1946: Report of the National Executive Committee", p.98]
General Secretaries
:William Breakwell
:1883: Benjamin Winwood
:1912: Samuel Edwards
References
Mining trade unions
National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)
Politics of the West Midlands (region)
1870 establishments in England
Mining in England
Trade unions established in 1870
Trade unions based in Staffordshire
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