Steve Kemp (born 1961) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

. Kemp grew up in

South Hiendley South Hiendley is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,667, increasing to 1,817 at the 2011 Census. Until 1974 it was part of Hemsworth Rural District. The village is on t ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, and worked briefly as a

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

before becoming a coal miner at

South Kirkby South Kirkby is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England which is governed locally by South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council. The town forms half of the civil parish of South Kirkby and Moorthorpe. The parish has a population ...

Colliery. He became active in the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and participated in the miners' strike of 1984 to 1985.Simon Garfield,
Why would a miner strike in 1995?
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 29 June 1995 In 1988, the South Kirkby mine closed, and Kemp moved to work at the Stillingfleet Mine, near

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...

. A supporter of

Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...

, he became treasurer, and then secretary of his union branch. He stood for the Labour Party

National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties: * National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa * Australian Labor Party National Executive * Nationa ...

(NEC) in 1996 and for several years afterwards, but was never elected. He also attempted to become the Labour candidate in the 1996 Hemsworth by-election, but was barred from standing by a panel of NEC members. Kemp was elected as Secretary of the NUM in 2002, proposing to strengthen the union's links with the Labour Party. He stood down in 2007, and joined the political department of the

GMB Union The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 460,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

.About GMB and Politics
, GMB

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp, Steve 1961 births Living people English miners General Secretaries of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) People from the City of Wakefield