mining - last north east pit closes
WORKERS, MAR 2005 ISSUE
The last pit in the North East, Ellington colliery, has been closed by UK Coal. The NUM chairman, Ian Lavery, said, "The closure of the colliery will have severe consequences economically and in employment terms for the area as a whole."
Lavery said that UK Coal's continued butchery of mining not only highlights their intention to close the industry down, but "begs the question as to how and why the government and the nation are allowing this company to run the deep-mined British coal industry and in turn, dictate the energy policy of the country".
Meanwhile the European Commission has allowed the German government to authorise multi-million euro aid for the German coal industry ,as part of the overall restructuring plan that the commission approved for the country for 2003–5. The total aid will amount to 2.7 billion euros (£1.85 million). In the long term the German mining industry will also face a reduction in production — which is why the aid was allowed.