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British coal mining trade union

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a trade union for coal miners in Great Britain, formed in 1945 from the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). The NUM took part in three national miners' strikes, in 1972, 1974 and 1984–85. Following the 1984–85 strike, and the subsequent closure of most of Britain's coal mines, it became a much smaller union. It had around 170,000 members when Arthur Scargill became leader in 1981, a figure which had fallen in 2023 to an active membership of 82. joined the MFGB in 1899, while the Northumberland Miners' Association and the Durham Miners' Association joined in 1907 and 1908, respectively.

In the 1980s, because many coal mines were overwhelmingly unprofitable, the Conservative government headed by Margaret Thatcher sought to close them and privatise the rest. In some areas, the NUM was militant Support for the strike was not universal; in some areas such as North Wales, support was small but great in others such as South Wales. Also, Yorkshire was more enthusiastic about the strike than Nottinghamshire where many miners refused to strike. Margaret Thatcher described the strikers as the "enemy within", but Scargill was equally confrontational. Picket lines were stationed outside the pits and other industrial sites requiring coal and violent clashes with police were common. Strikers had no source of income and some were forced by circumstances to cross the picket lines as reluctant "scabs". The strike ended on 3 March 1985 and the miners returned to work without agreement with the NCB. The strike was unsuccessful and its failure was an era defining moment in British politics. Following the strike large numbers of collieries were closed. and at the Labour Party's 1985 policy conference, the NUM's unanimous block voting support contributed to the successful passage of Composite 26, a resolution which formally committed the party to an LGBT rights platform.

Long based in London, Scargill commissioned a new headquarters building in Sheffield, which was completed in 1988. However, with membership declining, the union relocated again in 1992, to share the Yorkshire Area offices in Barnsley. Although weakened by the strike, the NUM was still a significant force into the early 1990s. A major scheme of closures of deep mines was announced by the government in 1992. The NUM ran a national ballot on possible strike action, and this was passed by members. It worked with the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers to challenge the closures in the High Court; the court imposed an emergency injunction against the closures and the strike action was called off. However, from mid 1993, the mines started closing; the number of working miners and therefore also the membership of the union continued to fall. In 2011 the union had 1,855 members. In 2012 the union's general secretary, Chris Kitchen, admitted it was in decline after the investigative website Exaro revealed that in 2011 the Derbyshire branch had just one member who was not a paid official. Filings with the Trades Union Certification Officer showed that the NUM's Derbyshire branch had just four members, three of whom were paid officials. In 2012, it emerged in court cases between the NUM and its former president Arthur Scargill that a substantial proportion of union members' subscriptions was being spent on expenses for Scargill, including unauthorised rent payments for a flat in London's Barbican Estate. A further 540 miners' job losses were announced in January 2013.

1947: nationalisation of 958 coal mines under state control; 400 small mines were left in private hands. 1969: a widespread unofficial strike over the pay of surface workers leads to a change in the rules on authorising a national strike: the threshold in a ballot is reduced from two thirds to 55%. 1972: Official national strike. This ended in success after the Battle of Saltley Gate, where the miners' pickets were supported by solidarity strikes by engineering workers in the Birmingham area. 1973 74: Three Day Week results from an overtime ban from December 1973. A vote by the NUM to strike at the end of January led Prime Minister Edward Heath to call a general election, in which he was defeated. The new government of Harold Wilson accepted the pay demand. 1984 85: National strike, which divided the union after the strike motion was rejected in several local ballots and the executive refused to hold a national ballot. After almost a year, the NUM returned to work having won almost no concessions. End of the closed shop with the establishment of the UDM. 1994: privatisation of the fifteen state owned coal mines still in operation, with ownership transferred to the company RJB Mining.