Word: coal
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...lengthening of the strike increased the chances of violence. Miners have already stopped some coal headed for utilities from non-union mines. Dozens of coal trucks have been forced at gunpoint to dump their loads. Towboats hauling coal barges up Pennsylvania's Monongahela River had to abandon operations when they were fired on by miners. "I don't like to see anyone suffer," says Jim Elias, 50, a miner in Greene County, Pa. "But we've got to get a decent contract somehow. I'm not the kind to fire a shot or throw a rock...
...pits until "she freezes over." Last week Wurmstedt revisited the hollow and found that 2½ months without paychecks has caused hardship for the miner shut made them even more obstinate. His report: ft "IP his is a war," says Miner Mike Adkins, 34. "The stockpiles of coal are down, so we're up to bat. I'm tired of hearing about people being laid off because of the coal shortage. The hell with 'em. I haven't worked for 72 days, and I'm mad and disgusted like everyone else on this creek...
Around him, miners nod their heads in agreement. Many of them are sons of coal miners and fervently believe that only the United Mine Workers protects them from the same kind of exploitation suffered in the pits by their fathers and grandfathers. Dressed in blue jeans and plaid wool shirts, many of the miners spend lots of time these days in the Cabin Creek Coffee House. It is a warm and welcome refuge from the coal-dust-blackened slush outside and the dispiriting sight of the empty coal hoppers-as idle as the miners-on the railroad tracks across...
...They're a lot sicker when they come in now." The strike also caused pensions, ranging from $225 to $250 a month, to be suspended for most of the hollow's retired miners. The pensions are financed by company-paid royalties of 55.4? for every ton of coal produced and 70 per man-hour worked when the mines are open...
...credit union has opened a temporary office in nearby Cedar Grove that has lent up to $500 each to some 1,000 District 17 miners at interest of 1% a month, payable within a year after the strike ends. In addition, Cabin Creek stores, following the tradition of the coal fields, are extending credit to the miners and not pressing them for payment, even though most of the merchants are also hurting financially. Close by Cabin Creek, business at the Marmet Furniture Store is off 50%. Down the road, employees of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers have had their...