sentences:  The mounting desperation and poverty of the striking families led to divisions within the regional NUM branches, and a breakaway union, the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM), was soon formed.More and more frustrated miners, resigned to the impending failure of the strike and worn down by months of protests, began to defy the union's rulings, starting splinter groups and advising workers that returning to work was the only viable option.The miners' strike lasted a full year before the NUM leadership conceded without a deal.