Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990 TAG: 9004140337
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PENNINGTON GAP LENGTH: Medium
The union workers on Friday performed community service ordered by U.S. District Judge Glen Williams for alleged acts of union violence during the UMW's bitter 11-month strike against Pittston Coal Group Inc.
Williams and UMW Vice President Cecil Roberts, who Williams once threatened with thousands of dollars in fines, spoke warmly of each other after finishing the river work.
Williams said he recalled telling mediator William Usery about the personalities the former labor secretary would have to deal with in negotiating an end to the strike.
The judge said he described Roberts as "a charismatic individual, a great leader . . . a religious man . . . a patriotic man."
Williams also told of the telephone conversation he and Roberts had on New Year's Day when the union official told the judge that a tentative agreement had been reached.
"I told him then how much I respected his leadership," Williams said.
During a quiet moment, Roberts and Williams stood by the river and talked like friends about topics ranging from water pollution to the federal strip-mine act.
The 70-year-old judge put on work gloves and helped union members clear away brush.
"I wasn't going to ask them to do anything I wouldn't at least try," he said.
"I know people have mixed feelings about why I'm here today," Williams said. "[I'm] not here for any show or anything like that.
"I saw the anguish [and] hardship" during the strike, the judge said. "I consider you all to be my people," he told two-dozen UMW members.
"While it's hard work, I think it demonstrates we can accomplish a great deal when we work together," Roberts said.
Williams praised the miners for the brush they'd cleared aside and the trash gotten out of the Powell River. "I think what is being done here is God's work. . . . You have been replenishing the Earth," he said.
Jackie Stump, who will soon resign his post as UMW District 28 president to spend more time on his work in the state legislature, said he has no hard feelings against Williams.
"He had to do a job and I had to do a job," Stump said of the judge who jailed him and two other union leaders for several days during the strike.
The river effort, which will continue for two weeks, is among the biggest of the union's community service projects.
The UMW also is helping a senior citizens' group and is involved in projects for Little Leagues in three towns, said organizer Bo Givens.
Givens said the union also is doing work for a 4-H Center and is working to improve housing for low-income people.
More tasks could be added if Russell County Circuit Judge Donald McGlothlin agrees to accept 30,000 hours worth of community service in exchange for forgiving much of the $64 million in fines he imposed on the union during the strike.
by CNB