Towards Settlement at Harworth The terms for the amalgamation of
the two rival Notting- hamshire miners' unions give such concrete advantages to the owners that they would be wise not to insist on their present attitude to the strike at Harworth, which has caused a setback to the negotiations. The terms were reached by discussion between the Minister of Mines, the Industrial Union and the Mineworkers' Federation of Great Britain. They provide that the existing agreement between the Notts owners and the Industrial Union shall be observed until it expires in six years' time ; that the Notts miners shall not be called on to take part in a national stoppage over a district wage dispute ; that politics be excluded from ordinary union meetings ; that Mr. George Spencer, founder and president of the Industrial Union, be president of the amalgamated union for two years. This agreement guarantees to the owners the advantages secured by their negotiations with the Spencer Union. The Notts Miners' Association finds it unacceptable ; and it seems that it will only be finally endorsed by the Miners' Federation if the owners would agree to re-engage the members of the Association who have taken part in the three months' strike at Harworth pit, organised by the Federation. The owners would do well to make this concession. Without it, the proposed agreement is endangered, and the Federation still has the power to enforce a national stoppage by taking a ballot of the coalfield.
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