Ian Lavery Ian Lavery Ian Lavery (born 6 January 1963) is a British Labour Party politician and former trade union leader from Northumberland who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wansbeck since the 2010 general election. Born and raised in Ashington, Lavery began work in the construction industry after leaving school before becoming a mining apprentice. Noted for being the sole apprentice to refuse to work during the miners' strike of 1984-1985, he gradually rose up the ranks of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and was chosen to succeed Arthur Scargill as NUM President in 2002. Once elected to
National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa) National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa) The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a trade union in South Africa. With a membership of 300,000 it is the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. It was founded in 1982 as a black mine workers union by Cyril Ramaphosa and grew rapidly, winning bargaining recognition from the Chamber of Mines in 1983. NUM campaigned successfully in the 1980s for the end of the job reservation system, a system which ensured that the best-paid jobs were allocated to whites. NUM is affiliated internationally with the International Federation of Chemical,