News release
Sandra Osborne MP is urging the Scottish Government to carry out a review of the convictions of miners during the 1984/85 miners’ strike. The call came after Neil Findlay MSP published a report backed by employment law experts Thompsons and the PCS union, that claimed the convictions of nearly 500 striking miners in Scotland during the year-long strike over pit closures are unsafe and were politically motivated.
Sandra said:
‘The coalfields community remember very well the treatment meted out to the striking miners. It has been established that there were a disproportionally greater number of arrests, convictions and sackings amongst the miners who were involved in legal industrial actions. A review should now be carried out by the Scottish Government to establish whether the arrests, convictions and sackings were legitimate as it has long been believed the miners were unfairly persecuted. Miners were sacked following their arrests and many who were not charged or convicted were still denied reinstatement and lost their redundancy rights as well as their jobs.
I have written to Michael Mathieson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice at the Scottish Government requesting a review be carried out’
ENDS
Sandra Osborne MP is urging the Scottish Government to carry out a review of the convictions of miners during the 1984/85 miners’ strike. The call came after Neil Findlay MSP published a report backed by employment law experts Thompsons and the PCS union, that claimed the convictions of nearly 500 striking miners in Scotland during the year-long strike over pit closures are unsafe and were politically motivated.
Sandra said:
‘The coalfields community remember very well the treatment meted out to the striking miners. It has been established that there were a disproportionally greater number of arrests, convictions and sackings amongst the miners who were involved in legal industrial actions. A review should now be carried out by the Scottish Government to establish whether the arrests, convictions and sackings were legitimate as it has long been believed the miners were unfairly persecuted. Miners were sacked following their arrests and many who were not charged or convicted were still denied reinstatement and lost their redundancy rights as well as their jobs.
I have written to Michael Mathieson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice at the Scottish Government requesting a review be carried out’
ENDS