Word: contraction
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...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...
Union and management negotiators did their best to give the proposed contract an optimistic send-off at a press conference in Washington's Capital Hilton Hotel. Said Nicholas Camicia, chief negotiator for the Bituminous Coal Operators' Association: "We think we have a package that will be very good for the union, very good for the country and [will] get our mines back to work." Added U.M.W. President Arnold Miller: "It's a pretty good contract...
Next day, the U.M.W.'s bargaining council voted for the pact by 22 to 17. The vote was closer than expected, but not close enough to dash union leaders' hopes that the contract would be ratified by the U.M.W. rank and file. In fact, although many miners were wary of the new agreement at first, at week's end they seemed to regard it as better than its two predeces sors. (The first was rejected by the bargaining council on Feb. 10; the second was voted down 2 to 1 by the miners on March 5.) Still...
Negotiators for the U.M.W. and coal operators initialed the new contract only eight days after the Carter Administration had obtained a temporary restraining order under the Taft-Hartley Act to get the striking miners back to work. As expected, nearly all of the miners ignored the order and stayed home. Of the 900 union mines closed by the strike, only a handful reopened. The Administration actually made little effort to enforce the order. Explained a Justice Department official: "We're trying not to rock the boat." Behind the scenes, however, mediators from the Department of Labor were pressuring operators...
These differences help explain the bitter quarreling that broke out among B.C.O.A. members after the United Mine Workers voted down their contract offer two weeks ago. The association is dominated by its biggest members, and many of the small owners complain that the B.C.O.A.'S initial hard-line approach to the bargaining was set by large operators who wanted to break the union. Said the owner of a tiny mine in western Pennsylvania: "The big boys ran the B.C.O.A. show, no matter what we thought. They realized that [U.M.W. President] Arnold Miller was weak and a little dumb...