Sammy Thompson

Sammy Thompson (1932 or 1933 – August 1988) was a British trade unionist.

Career

Thompson left school in 1948 and began working as a coal miner at Markham Main Colliery. He became active in the Yorkshire Area of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and became a leading ally of Arthur Scargill through his activism during the strikes of 1972, 1974 and 1984 to 1985. Shortly after the defeat of this last strike, Owen Briscoe, general secretary of the Yorkshire Area, resigned and Thompson was elected to succeed him.^[1]

In 1987, Thompson was elected as Vice-President of the NUM, receiving the support of Scargill, and beating Eric Clarke by 34,802 votes to 25,926.^[2] He became known for working in solidarity with other unions, including the National Union of Seamen and mining unions in other countries, but developed cancer and died in August 1988.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Simon Beavis, "NUM vice-president dies at 55", The Guardian, 15 August 1988, p.3
^ David Gow, "Scargill's man wins", The Guardian, 31 March 1987, p.2

Trade union offices
Preceded by Owen Briscoe	General Secretary of the Yorkshire Area of the National Union of Mineworkers 1985 – 1988	Succeeded by Ken Homer
Preceded by Mick McGahey	Vice President of the National Union of Mineworkers 1987–1988	Vacant Title next held by Frank Cave

[beavis-1] Simon Beavis, "NUM vice-president dies at 55", The Guardian, 15 August 1988, p.3

[2] David Gow, "Scargill's man wins", The Guardian, 31 March 1987, p.2

[1]

[2]

v t e Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
Presidents	1889 Pickard 1904 En. Edwards 1912 Smillie 1922 Smith 1929 Richards 1931 Eb. Edwards 1932 Lee 1934 J. Jones 1939 Lawther 1954 E. Jones 1960 Machen 1960 Ford 1971 Gormley 1982 Scargill 2002 Lavery 2012 Wilson
Vice-Presidents	1889 Woods 1909 Smillie 1912 Harvey 1914 House 1917 Smith 1922 Walsh 1924 Richards 1929 Eb. Edwards 1931 Lee 1932 J. Jones 1933 Davies 1934 Lawther 1939 Bowman 1950 E. Jones 1954 T. Jones 1961 Collindridge 1963 Bullough 1969 Schofield 1973 McGahey 1987 Thompson 1989 Vacant 1992 Cave 2002 Stanley 2010 Wilson 2012 Thomas
General Secretaries	1889 Ashton 1919 Hodges 1924 Cook 1932 Eb. Edwards 1946 Horner 1959 Paynter 1968 Daly 1984 Heathfield 1992 Scargill 1992 Vacant? 2002 Kemp 2007 Kitchen
Treasurers	1889 En. Edwards 1904 Abraham 1918 Robson 1921 Richardson
Affiliates and areas	Bristol Cleveland Cokemen Colliery Officials and Staffs Cumberland Derbyshire Durham Forest of Dean Kent Lancashire and Cheshire Leicestershire Midland Counties (Cannock Chase North Staffordshire Old Hill Pelsall Shropshire Warwickshire West Bromwich) Northumberland North Wales Nottinghamshire Scotland (Ayrshire Fife and Kinross Lanarkshire Mid and East Lothian Mid and West Lothian Stirling) Somerset South Derbyshire South Wales Yorkshire
Strikes	1893 1912 1926 1969 1972 1974 1984–1985