Coal miners expand strike against bosses' offensive
1989Roland Peterson 1989-07Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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NORTON, Va.—The class war between labor and capital is heating up in the coal fields of America. On June 12, over 43,000 members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)—more than half the unionized workforce—staged "wildcat" strikes in 11 states, including West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.
Rank-and-file mine workers organized the walkouts to express solidarity with 1700 UMWA members who have been on strike against the Pittston Coal Group in Virginia for nearly three months.
The bitter strike against Pittston is shaping up to be a decisive test for the UMWA. If the miners suffer a defeat here, the coal operators will undoubtedly intensify their campaign to wipe out the union completely. With that in mind, the UMWA ranks are linking their fate to the outcome of the Pittston strike.
The "wildcat" strikers' anger is infecting other workers in the coal fields. At several factories in Pennsylvania, workers demonstrated their solidarity by refusing to go to work after miners showed up and passed out flyers that explained the strike issues. At a Bethlehem Steel plant in Johnstown, Pa., only 37 out of a workforce of 600 went to work.
The catalyst for the miners' inspiration is located in a seemingly obscure corner of the nation. As you fly over southwestern Virginia, you see green fields and soft, rolling hills; it looks like a peaceful, serene place. But once your feet touch the ground, you quickly realize there is a militant class battle taking place-with lines clearly drawn.
After 14 months of working without a contract, the 1700 UMWA miners based at Pittston, the nation's largest coal exporter, were forced to go on strike on April 5. In their "best final offer," Pittston had demanded the elimination of certain jobs, unlimited overtime (including running coal on (continued on page 8, in “'No doctors, or judges, or churches condemned abortion before quickening of the fetus. It was considered to be a medically safe as well as socially acceptable procedure'”)