IN YORKSHIRE’S coalfields, divisions between unions and employers traditionally run as deep as the coal seams themselves. Even recently, it would have been unthinkable that the two sides could work together, amicably, on plans to save pits — especially plans involving big changes to work practices.

Yet that has happened in two of UK Coal’s mines. The plans have saved them from closure and, both sides say, injected a new sense of purpose and commitment.

Chris Kitchen, vice-chairman in Yorkshire of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), says that at Kellingley colliery, in North Yorkshire, it “was always them and us for the majority of people”.

Last year Kellingley endured a 13-week industrial dispute, it was hit by geological problems, its output plunged and it faced closure. For the second time, the mine faced the end: it had been closed by British Coal in its privatisation and then revived by UK Coal’s predecessor company, RJB Mining.

There was just one way out. The workforce and managers had to come up with a plan to increase time worked at the face, control costs, raise output and become profitable. Eight working groups, each chaired by a miner, were set up to look at aspects of Kellingley’s operation such as pay, safety and coalface development. There was suspicion at first from many workers, who feared that the union would be compromised, but UK Coal had said that there was no choice — a fresh way of working had to be found or there would be closure.

Paul Marron, the NUM’s Kellingley branch treasurer, says: “We did have problems with some of the men, calling us management spies. We needed to come up with a couple of quick wins so they could see there was something to be gained.” It’s hard to imagine Arthur Scargill endorsing such a move 20 years ago, but Mr Marron says that Kellingley branch has always had more of a pragmatic engagement with managers.

Bill Tinsley, then Kellingley manager, now UK Coal’s mining director, says: “A lot of management were suspicious, too. It took a lot of getting used to.”

The changes agreed were to shift times and bonus pay, with longer shifts traded for more time off and with reduced bonuses traded for higher basic pay. The idea was to have more people working longer — when they were working — to keep the machinery going. The deal was approved and Kellingley now has a five-year plan, albeit under constant review.

A similar exercise at Harworth, close to the South Yorkshire-Nottinghamshire border, has led to a reprieve for one of UK Coal’s oldest mines. Harworth miners are in the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM), yet even though the UDM traditionally is more moderate than the NUM, there was little dialogue between it and the mining managers.

In Harworth’s manager’s office, Dave McGarry, UDM branch secretary, and Steve Dabell, acting manager, now discuss development of a coalface that extends Harworth’s life.

In 2004, Harworth was told that things must change. It had made a profit only twice in ten years. As at Kellingley, miners and managers made plans, with increased working time again crucial. Because Harworth is old, travel to its coalface takes an hour. Greater need for fans so far from the main shaft means that Harworth can spend £100,000 a week on energy.

Harworth’s rescue plan lifted the time that machines can cut coal from 96 hours a week to 120. Harworth also ended bonus payments, so that there is only basic pay with overtime available. Both sides said that bonuses were a disincentive: Mr Dabell recalls much time being spent resolving arguments over who had done what job. Now basic starting pay is up from £11,000 to £21,000.

Harworth will finish mining its present face in summer and have a gap of several months before the next face is ready to work. Its turnaround has been aided by the willingness of EdF, the French power group, to enter a long contract to take its output and for overseas banking investment to back that. Locals joke that the mine was saved by a French power company and a German bank. In the coalfield community around Harworth, that, too, was once unthinkable.

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