The anatomy of a strike.

Abstract

It wasn't a very respectful way for union members to talk to their president, but the members of the Black Lung Association aren't in a very respectful mood. They all think of themselves as loyal members of the United Mine Workers of America, but when they were putting together the latest issue of their monthly newsletter a few days ago they had no hesitation about spelling out for UMW president W. A. (Tony) Boyle the increasing bitterness and frustration that UMW men feel about the national coal strike. The strike is in its 35th day now. and there is no end in sight. Men who were looking forward to a few days off to go squirrel -hunting , back when the mines shut down on October 1. have had their fill of squirrels by now and are thinking more about bread. It's been a longtime between paychecks. Working miners in the big West Virginia and Ohio mines where Jock Yablonski had a dedicated following in the 1969 UMW election -haven't trusted Tony Boyle for a long time, and they trust him less witli every day that goes by. If they read the papers thev know that Boyle and the industry negotiators are still meeting more or less regularly in Washington, and still talking about what to put into a new contract to replace the three year pact that expired September 30. But that 's all they know for sure. Anything else is rumor, or good guesswork. For more than two and a half months the details of the negotiations have been a closely guarded secret, because Boyle and the operators agreed back in August that public discussion would be harmful. It was never clear who would be harmed -but the result was that Boyle agreed, in effect, to keep nearly 100,000 working miners totally uninformed while the talks were continuing. They would have nothing to say about the contract the UMW, unlike many unions, has no provision for rank-and-file ratification -and they would have no remote notion of how many paychecks they'd miss while they were waiting for news from UMW headquarters. Not many miners expected to be out for long. At the beginning, word from the district offices was that the operators would knuckle under within a week or two at the outside, and then the men would be back on the job, with pay scales sharply increased from $37 a day to $50 (with the increase phased in over the three-year-life of the new contract), Boyle also pledged to get the operators to agree to doubling the royalty paid per ton to finance the UMW Welfare and Retirement Fund, from 40 cents per ton to 80. The royalty hadn't been increased since 1952 and Boyle talkea confidently of getting the increase. Off the record, UMW officials in Washington told reporters that industry leaders had been sounded out privately months ago and that there would be no serious opposition to Boyle's proposals.