Sally, One of the sad things about Thatcher closing the British mines was the reaction of the miners. As one said, "What sort of career will my son have if the mine is closed.
As a five time father, I can't imagine being happy that any of them would be going a mile underground to spend their days in tiny tunnels in cancerous danger. Yet, this was the only prospect for that this miner could see for his son. A sad world we live in. Harry --------------------------------------------------------- > >> 25 November 2001 > >> Halifax Daily News > >> Parker Barss Donham > >> > >> > >> The ironic impact of seniority lists meant that the men who emerged > >> from Prince Colliery on the last production shift Friday were those > >> most disadvantaged by the shutdown of Cape Breton's last coal mine. > >> > >> The 23 and 24 years they toiled underground gave them enough > >> seniority to be the very last to be laid off, but too little -- in > >> some cases, just weeks too little -- to qualify for bridge benefits > >> until modest pensions and old age benefits kick in at age 65. > >> > >> Instead, they will collect up to $80,000 in severance, much of which > >> will be chewed up in taxes. They will be unable to collect > >> unemployment benefits until the severance ends. > >> > >> The fear these pit-worn veterans feel for their future and their > >> families showed in their bitter comments to waiting reporters. > >> > >> "We just can't understand it," underground mechanic Jim Cantwell told > >> the Canadian Press. "We thought for sure we'd be retiring from here. > >> Now we're going to be looking for employment in a place where there is > >> none." > >> > >> "We were just disgusted," Mike White told the Chronicle-Herald. "We > >> were treated like dogs... but no one really cares." > >> > >> There is further irony in the cynical reaction of many mainlanders, > >> and some Cape Bretoners, who bristle at the entitlement mentality such > >> comments betray. Critics can't fathom how workers who benefited from > >> the $1.6 billion Ottawa showered on Cape Breton's coal industry could > >> believe they had been "treated like dogs." > >> > >> There is an element of truth to this reaction, but there is much that > >> it ignores. > >> > >> Ottawa established Devco in 1967 with a mandate to phase out the > >> island's money-losing coal industry. The 1973 Arab oil embargo, and > >> the energy crisis it caused, turned that mandate around. > >> > >> Suddenly, Cape Breton coal had value again. With John Buchanan's > >> election in 1978, it became the centrepiece of his strategy to save > >> the province from skyrocketing electricity rates -- and end the furore > >> over rates that brought down Gerald Regan's government. By the late > >> 70's and early 80's, Devco began opening new mines. > >> > >> The men who shut down the Prince Mine this week were hired in that > >> period, between 1977 and 1981. Most were in their 20s. They signed on > >> for what Devco assured them was a career, in an industry with a bright > >> future. They worked just shy of 25 years. > >> > >> Now, in their late 40s or early 50s, they find themselves out of work > >> with little reason for confidence in their ability to find new > >> employment. > >> > >> Miners are not unskilled -- far from it. Many excel as carpenters, > >> electricians, mechanics, pipefitters, and stationery engineers. But > >> Cape Breton already suffers from a surplus of older construction > >> workers. They are ill-suited to the hundreds of new jobs that have > >> arisen in Cape Breton -- jobs more likely to go to their daughters > >> than to themselves. > >> > >> Why not move, say the social planners of the new right. Lots of > >> people have to move to find work. > >> > >> A 50-year-old laid off New Waterford miner has many good reasons not > >> to move. If he could sell his house at all, it would not produce > >> enough cash to make a down payment on a dwelling in any job-rich part > >> of Canada. He likely has a network of family and social support that > >> makes it cheaper and easier to survive in Cape Breton on little or no > >> money than anywhere else in Canada. > >> > >> For the comfortably employed to dismiss the bitterness such > >> circumstances engender as the whining of an entitlement mentality is > >> too easy. > >> > >> Closing the coal mines, like closing the steel plant, was absolutely > >> the right thing to do. Taxpayers cannot continue to pour huge > >> quantities of money into industries that show no sign of regaining the > >> capacity to support themselves. Politicians mustn't keep doing it on > >> the taxpayers' behalf. > >> > >> In an important sense, the end of coal and steel is a liberating > >> event for Cape Breton. The island's best and brightest can now put > >> their talent and energy into enterprises with a future, instead of the > >> dead and dying industries of the past. > >> > >> That's a critical and a long overdue change. But just because a > >> decision is the right one, does not lessen the hardship it occasions. > >> The conviction that this is the right course must not blind us to the > >> need for compassion toward those the economy has left behind. > >> > >> <I> Copyright (C) 2001 by Parker Barss Donham ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). All > >> rights reserved. <N> ****************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of LA Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 Tel: (818) 352-4141 Fax: (818) 353-2242 *******************************
