ABSTRACT
Mining is a dangerous trade, carried on largely in isolation from other industries. Most of the miners live in colliery villages where there is little other employment. The miners’ Unions include both underground and surface workers; but their main strength is among the coal hewers, who are recruited without any formal apprenticeship from the younger workers entering the pits. The miners’ Unions include both underground and surface workers; but their main strength is among the coal hewers, who are recruited without any formal apprenticeship from the younger workers entering the pits. There is no sharp class division between skilled and less skilled workers, such as exists in the craft trades; and this helps to consolidate the miners’ movement on inclusive lines. The mineworkers’ federation of Great Britain, which has been in existence since 1888, is in the main a close federation of a number of district Unions, each confined to a particular coalfield.
