Leanne Wood AM has said:
“In 1910 miners were locked out of Ely Pit in my home town of Penygraig over a dispute relating to rates of pay. A century on and workers and their trade unions representatives are staggered that a Labour controlled council have threatened their 10,000 employees with a lock out, unless they agree to sign new contracts with reduced terms and conditions. The GMB have likened the situation to a gun being held to worker’s heads.
Bullying tactics like this have no place in Wales in 2010. Plaid Cymru supports the GMB, and any other union backing workers against this sort of treatment. The Labour leadership of RCT council must remove the lock-out threat so that reasonable discussions about huge cuts faced by the council can take place.
I hope all those present in the commemoration service on Sunday will reflect on the parallels between what happened in Tonypandy a century ago and the situation faced by RCT workers today. For justice to be done RCT have to withdraw the lock-out threat.”
