In an impassioned speech, union boss Mick Lynch told a huge crowd at the Durham Miners’ Gala: “We’re back. The working class is back. We refuse to be meek, we refuse to be humble, and we refuse to be poor anymore. ”
Even with Gala favourite, former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, attending the event, the star was the RMT general secretary, who received a rapturous reception. His high-profile defense of his members in the recent rail strikes gave a boost to the British trade union movement.
He took aim at the Conservative Party and its battle to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is due to resign. “I don’t give a monkey’s who the leader of the Tory party is,” he said.
Read more: Durham Miners’ Gala 2022 RECAP: The historic event is back after a two-year hiatus
Describing it as the party of billionaires and the public school elite, he said: “We can no longer tolerate their relentless pursuit of profit. We must be relentless in our pursuit of social justice.”
In the sweltering heat, the turnout at the 136th Durham Miners’ Gala was huge. Organizers were hoping up to 200,000 people would turn up after it returned after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic. And they probably wouldn’t be far wrong.
The 2022 Durham Miners Gala Band and Banner Parade (Image: ncjMedia)
More than 50 brass bands and 50 coal flags paraded through the streets of Durham, the most since before the miners’ strike of 1984/85. Past the County Hotel on Old Elvet they marched, a riot of color and sound, pausing to perform their “party” music numbers.
And quite an eclectic mix there was of traditional and older numbers like the beautiful, brooding Gresford (the Miners’ Anthem) and Blaydon Races, through the decades to Come on Eileen, YMCA – which got at least a few airplays – and Britney Spears hit “Baby One More Time “.
Organized by the Durham Miners’ Association (DMA), the Gala was established in 1871 and this year’s event was dedicated to key workers – the ordinary working people who kept the country going during the pandemic.
Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn at the Durham Miners Gala (Image: ncjMedia)
It saw Holly Johnston, a nurse and member of the GMB union, and Rohan Cohn, a postal worker and member of the CWU, join Mr Lynch and fellow speakers Sharon Graham of Unite; NASUWT’s Patrick Roach, Joe Grady, UCU and Claire Williams, UNISON Northern Regional Secretary. They were joined by the warmly welcomed Yvette Williams MBE, co-founder of the Justice4Grenfell movement.
Although the Gala is a celebration of working-class culture and traditions, it is at its core political and, as a result, the debilitating effect the cost-of-living crisis has had on working people was the theme of the day. Ms Williams spoke of key workers “going from front line work to life on the bread line”.
Speaking earlier in the day, Mr Lynch, who attended the event with his wife Mary, said: “We need to take action if we want to get a fair deal from corporate Britain. I think there is a mood for change.
Mick Lynch and his wife Mary at the Durham Miners Gala (Image: ncjMedia)
“People want to focus on the needs of working people, and those needs are very obvious. People can’t afford to live even if they are full time in many cases.
“We need a little redistribution of wealth. The rich must give up a little, so that the poorer may receive a fairer share of the products of their labor.’
Asked about the difference between his union’s relationship with Mr Corbyn compared to current Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer, he said: “We don’t have a good relationship with Keir Starmer.”
He added: “I hope that he can find an identity that is with working people and with their causes and the campaigns that we run. I think this is essential for him to succeed at the polls and get a Labor government.
“I want a Labor government and the Labor leader is Keir Starmer. If he manages to win, there will be a change and it will be in our interest.
“But he has to do that with a message that he supports working people, that he supports an end to low pay and a set of employment rights that will tackle the job inequalities we have now.”
“Then all the other things – housing, education support, social care and the NHS – come with them. But we are starting with a square deal in the British worker’s pay packet.’
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