Isaac Evans (trade unionist)

Born at Garndiffaith, near Pontypool, Evans began working in a coal mine at Abersychan when only ten years old.

[1][2] Evans was a keen trade unionist, and in 1876 played a leading role in the negotiations which led to the formation of the Sliding Scale Joint Committee, to determine coal miners' wages.

[1] Evans was supportive of enginemen and boilermen working at colleries forming their own unions, and in 1883 he chaired the first meeting of these workers in the region.

He attended the founding meeting of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, in 1889, and supported its eight-hour day policy, but argued that it could not occur in South Wales because of the sliding scale agreement.

[2] In 1893, he dissented from most of his colleagues, including William Abraham, "Mabon", during the episode known as the Hauliers' Strike, when younger miners supported a more militant policy than the moderate union leaders.