> There would probably still be coal mining in the UK if it were not for the NUM, we import coal now.
While they certainly didn't play an innocent role in the demise (planned, expected or otherwise) of the coal mining industry, to lay blame squarely at the union's feet ignores the _other_ 800lb gorilla in the room. The mines would have and were becoming less economically viable.
But the Thatcher government made a point of starting the closures at the worst possible time, "effective immediately", and then made a point of pointedly ignoring the economic collapse of entire towns and districts whose lifeblood had been the coal mines. There were multiple towns of 20,000 working age people, 15,000+ of whom worked in the coal industry. And there was precisely nothing done to handle that collapse, and just as importantly to the union's handling - there was not even the hint of sympathy or compassion from the Thatcher government - everything was all about the "wicked" union "stealing" from the British people, and an infamous quote that "if miners don't like being out of work, they need to get on their bike and find more [work]". The problem with this is, even if the union had been stubborn, before, this attitude steeled their resolve to be just as hard-headed as Thatcher.