Leadership Quote

Leadership Quote / January 2002

“In British Coal, there was no leadership. Managers simply followed the dictate of the government.But when I joined the union in the 1960’s, miners were the thought leaders at the vanguard of improvements for working people and society. Mining destroys your lungs, crushes your body.
“Working underground makes you crave improvement. A century before, it was the miners’ dues that helped build institutes of learning, theaters, libraries, reading rooms.
“Our job in the union was not only to represent our workers.but also to explain to them what it meant to work together, share together, support the national health services, improve the education system. The world was what we were working with.” ~Tyrone O’Sullivan, Welsh labor union leader whose union bought out the Tower Collery which is now owned and run by the workers.  (quoted in Fast Company, November 2001).