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Miner Strike: Life and Death Issues

By VVAW

The 3-year contract between the United Mine Workers (UMW) and the Bituminous Coal Operator's Association (BCOA) expired on Nov. 12th. With a long tradition of "No Contract-No Work," the UMW has gone out on strike. Initial negotiations between the UMW and the BCOA lasted approximately 10 weeks with the UMW representing 120,000 coal miners who produce ? of the country's coal. The BCOA is the bargaining group which represents most of the major coal producers.

The status of the miner's contract is unclear as we go to press. Arnold Miller (UMW President) and the BCOA have reached some sort of agreement, but it is not certain that he miners will accept the negotiated package. Since Miller replaced the corrupt Tony Boyle (who is currently in prison for plotting the murder of a union rival), the UMV rank-and-file upsurge has resulted in new democratic procedures for contract ratification. Every union member will vote by secret ballot on the contract, and though the entire procedure can take up to 2 weeks (weeks without pay), the miners realize the importance of having a voice and deciding certain aspects of their living and working conditions.

The demands of the coal miners include a wage increase and a cost-of-living clause in their contract. Inflations hits hard in mining communities, and just like everyone else, the miners have found it difficult to make ends meet. They are also demanding better job security (including seniority rights) and an improved grievance procedure. The miners are also fighting for paid sick leave, increased benefits for disabled and pensioned miners and widows, and higher pensions.

The #1 issue with the miners is safety; they are demanding the right not to work under unsafe conditions. Negotiations between the UMW and BCOA began on Sept. 3rd, and during the following 10 weeks, 39 miners were killed. Since the Mine Safety Act went into effect in 1969, 830 miners have lost their lives in the mines. With facts like this, it is no wonder that safety is an issue of primary importance to the miners. They are demanding that they have the right to leave the mines anytime conditions are unsafe. They are also demanding that there be a full time, specially trained help on all the dangerous machinery present at all times, and that union safety inspectors have access to any mine without company officials being present.

The major demand that deals with the question of safety is the right to strike over unsafe working conditions. Miners are specifically stating that they mist have this right-to-strike clause clearly written into their contract, Miners had this right to strike over safety conditions ripped away from them several years ago and they are now fighting to get it back. As the miners are demanding this right, the companies are asking the unions to cooperate in the drive for "increased productivity," and the companies have asked that there be no more wildcats at the mines. The wildcat strike has been one of the most effective tools the miners have used for fighting for their needs and protesting the conditions they are forced to work under. Since the miners cannot officially strike around safety conditions, they have averaged 100 wildcats a month during the last 5 years. This right-to-strike clause is one of the miner's major demands, and it is not only important for them. It is important for all working people. We have seen how the government, and the corporations that government serves, are trying to take the right to strike away from workers. The major attack in this respect was directed at steel workers in the form of the ENA. (The Experimental Negotiating Agreement states that steel workers cannot strike over their national contract and that contracts are not to be voted on by the rank-and-file). Now, the corporations are trying to continue to deny the coal miners this basic right to strike, and this attack on all working people must be resisted.

News of a coal strike ahs been circulating for some time and the government has tried to bill the strike as an attack on the people of this country by the coal miners. The government and corporations are doing this under the guise of "energy shortages" and the amount of lay-offs that a coal strike will create. Figures relating to lay-offs are being circulated widely, showing that lay-offs into steel and railroad industries will begin immediately with the strike. After 3 weeks of a coal strike, lay-off levers will reach 400,000, and within a month, 1.7 million people will be out of work. These figures may be correct, but these lay-offs are not the fault of the coal miners who are fighting not just for themselves, but for the rights of all working people. These lay-offs, and the general economic crisis they are a part of, are the fault of the corporate owners -- that elite, wealthy few who rule this country.

The corporate owners don't want a coal strike because strikes do not fit in with their insatiable hunger for profits. A strike is not in their interests and they will be using every anti-strike scheme they have to try and prevent a long walk-out, including trying to build mass sentiment against a coal strike. But the coal strike is the right of the coal miners, and it is the responsibility of the people of the country to support that strike and to combat the anti-strike propaganda and possible strikebreaking tactics that the government will employ to try to cut this strike short and protect the profit-makers. The coal miners are waging a battle for decent living and working conditions. They are trying to stay alive in the mines, they are trying to put food on their tables, they are trying to live long lives with a decent standard of existence, and they are trying to protect the only way they have of winning these demands -- their right to strike. The struggle of the miners belongs to all of us. It may not be in the interests of the government and the corporations, but it certainly is in the interests of the people of this country.