January isn’t

Strikes

I have never liked strikes, now so hugely desrructive They have long become something of a ritual, a well rehearsed  dance with both sides denying blame.

Over many years reporting  I covered hundreds of strikes, almost weekly.

Very lowly paid, at less than a £1for a short piece in the hey heyday of the Rhymney Valley mining for short items. 

I remember the ‘swearing  strike’ when a miner insulted his boss. Those strikes usually lasted several days in which time I would have sold a couple of dozen.

It was easy money reporting for the press agencies and and national papers.

Only once  have I been directly involved in the NUJ - National Union of  Journalists - when I was on the South Wales Argus.

I carried on working, even covering some big stories including  a front page lead in our rival the South Wales Echo.

A couple of years later I became chairman of the Wales and Marches section of the Union.

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