Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 11, 1993 TAG: 9305110182
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HUNTINGTON, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
The union, whose miners have worked without a contract since May 3, struck No. 3 U.S. producer AMAX Coal Co., Zeigler Coal Co. and Arch Mineral Co., beginning with the late afternoon shift, Trumka said.
None of the companies has mines in Virginia.
Virginia State Police have been monitoring the union contract talks and potential strike activity. Lt. J.B. Willis of the Wytheville state police district office said he was happy that Virginia has escaped the strike for now.
"It's definitely a relief; we've got many other things we could be doing," he said.
During the UMW's Pittston strike in 1989-90, the state police spent $8.4 million keeping order in the Virginia coalfields, most of it for overtime pay for hundreds of state troopers. Included in that amount was $250,000 for the repair of tires flattened by welded nail devices called "jackrocks" because of their shape.
Before Trumka's strike call Monday, talks between the union and the Bituminous Coal Operators Association had been suspended for seven days. The two sides have been trying to agree on the renewal of a contract that covers 60,000 miners in six states.
The dispute has focused on expanded job opportunities for UMW miners, who see their share of industry production dwindling as many longtime UMW-represented companies have begun to establish nonunion operations.
Many of the three target company's operations are nonunion.
Trumka said the union targeted Zeigler and Arch because "they are the most adamantly opposed to providing our members with jobs with a future."
AMAX negotiators "indicated they are willing to accommodate us, but they have failed to take any action to convince other companies in their group to follow suit," Trumka said.
Strikes also could be called against any of the other BCOA companies, Trumka said.
At the start of negotiations Nov. 6, the UMW said its chief concern was putting an end to the practice it calls "double-breasting," in which unionized companies form nonunion subsidiaries and transfer coal reserves and sales contracts to the nonunion operations.
For their part, the operators said they needed increased flexibility in work rules to compete with low-cost nonunion and overseas operations. The companies also said they would seek some concessions in health care costs.
Employment for UMW members at association operations has fallen from 140,000 in 1979 to about 50,000 "as we sit here today," Trumka said.
The UMW has not staged a strike against the entire soft-coal industry since 1981, though there have been walkouts against individual companies in the last 12 years.
Staff writer Greg Edwards supplied information for this story.
by CNB