AS a member of NUM/COSA (Colliery Officials and Staffs Area), from 1965-1994, and a militant activist, for which I make no apology, during the 1972 and 1974 miners strikes, I feel quite justified in saying how shocked and appalled I am at the disclosures via the media of the treachery of some trade union leaders and in particular the late Joe Gormley.

How despicable that someone like him, with his humble beginnings and working class background, should betray his colleagues and members and 'shop' them to Special Branch, under the heading of "patriotism".

He must have lost all sense of principle, honour and solidarity. Did he never consider that the majority of his members were also patriots?

There was speculation and comment within the ranks and media at the time that he and Derek Ezra made rather uneasy "bed fellows". Many people were disappointed when he accepted a peerage from Margaret Thatcher, the architect of the demise of a once great industry and once proud National Union of Mineworkers, but none of us could have envisaged such a betrayal as this.

I feel quite sorry for his family, whom I last met at Joe's funeral in 1993, as ex-national coal board employees, they were members of the same union. I am also sad for my many friends and colleagues in the industry and trade union movement who have been betrayed and vilified. I trust that those of the 23 trade union traitors who are still alive hang their heads in shame.

Vera Wasilewska

Lingard Street

Leigh.