Wages in the 1920’s

In the late twenties the collieries were paid 6/6  (six shillings and six pence) a ton for "clean coal", coal of a certain quality and size. For the best of the fine stuff that passed through a 1 ¼” screen they received 6d (6 pence) a ton extra. Wages were linked to the market price of the coal. If the price rose the miners got an increase, if it fell their wages were reduced, They did not regard this as unfair at the time, but wage reductions when they did come, undoubtedly brought with them hardship and suffering. Drawers, jobbers, trammers and others were paid less than colliers on a sliding scale.

A collier, Jimmy Walsh, was paid as follows for the week ending December 15, 1928.

  From his wages the miner had to pay for fuses, gelignite, candles, detonators and so on. House rent was deducted, as was a weekly payment towards the church, then being built in Moneenroe. Walshs' take home pay after total deductions for the week ending December 15 came to £4.0s.11d, less than half his total earnings. There was also dissatisfaction about housing conditions and the lack of washing and showering facilities. The management were blamed for accidents and fatalities in the pits, and miners from England and Scotland who came to work there from time to time regarded the working conditions as greatly inferior to those in Britain.