Word: coal
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Here we go again," sighed Frank Vahaly, 36, a coal miner in Bentleyville, Pa. His skepticism was echoed throughout the strikebound coal fields last week as negotiators for the miners and operators reached yet another tentative contract agreement-the third in the 14-week coal strike...
...eastern coalfields and led inefficiently by Arnold Miller, the failure of this strike could mean the end of the union. Perhaps more significantly, the failure of the present walkout could set a dangerous precedent for management-labor relations in other industries for a long time to come. The coal strike is unique in that it is the first industry-wide walk-out in the post-war era in which what have been heretofore regarded as "fringe" benefits--health-and-pension plans, the right to strike at a local level if unsafe conditions are involved--figure as prominent issues...
Furthermore, it is necessary to remember what is at stake as stockpiles dwindle and workers in other industries that depend on coal are thrown out of work. When the strike began last December, most utility plants and steel mills--prime clients for the low-sulphur bituminous coal that comes from the eastern fields--were sitting on stockpiles that in some cases approached 90 days, and averaged 75. These stockpiles were used as cynical chips in bargaining with the union throughout the winter; it is only since the huge mountains of coal that surrounded the electrical and steel producers in December...
...through one of the harshest winters the coalfields had ever known--Carter stumbled to action only ten days ago. His order of a Taft-Hartley injunction only angered and bewildered the UMWA, leaving many miners muttering John L. Lewis's 1943 offer in a similar situation: "Let them dig coal with bayonets." Tacitly disregarded by the UMWA, perhaps more than anything else the injunction strengthened the resolve of the membership to stay out until the strike was won. The federal judge who refused to sign the order last week is to be applauded; in a turnabout, miners hampered...
...PERHAPS the one thing the strike points up the most is the shakiness of the UMWA itself. Percentages of union-mined coal have decreased in Kentucky, perennially the leading producing state, every year since Miller took office in 1973, and 85 million man-days have been lost to wildcat strikes in West Virginia alone in the past two-and-a-half years. Clearly, the rank-and-file is dissatisfied with the leadership of Miller, who has seen the exodus of most of his staff over matters of union policy. There is no wistful feeling for the days of the corrupt...