In 1978 I left college after spending two years studying politics and economics and was still very much a coal miner’s daughter when I applied for a job at British Coal area HQ. Fired up with moderate left wing political views and a deep dislike of injustice, I was already aware that the girls in the pit canteen got a share of the productivity bonus and thought it slightly dodgy. After two in depth interviews I was called back for a third and sat nervously on a wooden chair facing a committee of interviewers. The interview was long and fairly positive. I was relaxed and confident; it was all going really well.
“So,” a guy in a suit and spectacles smiled. “The starting salary would be £70 a week (£340 in today’s money) with 100% pit bonus,” he leaned in with the expression of a man sure of response wilting with gratitude from an impressionable 18 year old.
“That’s good, “I beamed. “But I don’t think administrators should get pit bonuses, they should go to the face workers.”
I was not called back again.