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First Vote. The U.M.W.'s policy of allowing every member to cast a secret ballot on industry-wide contracts at last brings the miners into the mainstream of progressive unionism. Until now, the final decision on major mine contracts was made at the top. Under the plan, the first vote is cast by the Bargaining Council. The schedule then calls for the agreement to be explained to 800 delegates from the local unions at a meeting in Pittsburgh late this week. The delegates will then take the 58-page agreement back to their local headquarters, where it will...
...insurance of $100 a week for up to one year, five days of paid sick leave, v. none now, three more paid holidays in addition to the present nine and a new $75-a-year allowance for work clothes. The U.M.W. also scored well on improving safety measures. Every miner will get the right to leave any area that he considers un safe, and the companies agreed to bear the cost of four comprehensive mine inspections each year by the union's Miner Safety Committee...
...miners today lead far better lives than their fathers did, both in and out of the pits. Gone is the image of the fatalistic miner mournfully characterized two decades ago in Tennessee Ernie Ford's rendition of Sixteen Tons...
Going into the negotiations, the rank and file were in a feisty mood and fully aware of their new power in an era of scarcer, costlier energy. Expressing the attitude of the majority, West Virginia Miner Jim ("Catfish") Barlow, 27, said: "This time we are going to get something or we're going to shut down everything-everything. I feel we got to get it now or it's gonna be too late...
...union in early September handed the coal companies a 54-page list of demands. They covered improved training and grievance procedures, greater participation in determining work schedules, and a number of safety provisions, including the right of a miner to leave his place at work if he feels that he is in imminent danger. The U.M.W. also demanded a big increase in pensions, which now provide retired miners with a maximum of $150 a month (v. $625 for auto workers), plus a cost-of-living escalator. All that in addition to a basic wage increase at least...