A little good news for the coalfields

I'm a bit behind in blogging, but there does seem to be some good news for around 90,000 retired miners. Without congressional action, their benefits would end next year.

After blocking the bill for months, senate majority leader Mitch McConnell finally came out in support of long overdue legislation to ensure retirees get the benefits they were promised long ago. Both of West Virginia's senators have long supported the measure.

(Hmmm..I wonder if the results of Kentucky's race for governor had anything to do with that.)

Any, as I wrote here a while back, that's a good step. Then next step would be passage of the RECLAIM Act, which would draw on Abandoned Mine Lands (not land mines!) money to pay miners to undo some of the damage of mining. It would be another welcome boost to the economy of the coalfields as coal companies continue to go bankrupt.

This day in West Virginia labor history

On this day in 1989, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) began its historic strike against the Pittston Coal Company. The issues leading to the strike were mostly regarding retiree health benefits.

The union had been working without a contract for a full 14 months when the strike began, which was pretty much unheard of at the time. During that time many miners received training in nonviolent action and civil disobedience.

Around 1,700 miners in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky participated in the strike, which lasted until Feb. 20, 1990.

It was my first big fight. I had only been working on economic justice issues with the American Friends Service Committee for a month or so, although I followed events as closely as I could in the Charleston Gazette in the year leading up to it. Everybody paying attention knew something was going to blow.

I remember sitting in the cafeteria of the WV capitol and being told by a UMWA rep that it was starting as we spoke. It would come to absorb my attention, energy and chi for the next 10 months and I forged some strong relationships that continue to this day. I'll always be grateful to AFSC for giving me the chance to jump in. I can't say that I had a huge impact on the strike, but it had a huge impact on me.

It was intense and exhausting, but, to be honest, I was having the time of my life.

When I look back on it, I think of friends, picket lines, burning houses, evictions, crashing coal trucks, (alleged) jackrocks, singing, banter, jokes, learning guitar, anger, Christmas, courage, goon guards, provocations, state police, constant motion, solidarity, direct action, mischief, learning, absorbing history, brave women holding the line, places, and the threat of violence, all to a Bob Dylan soundtrack.

At times, the atmosphere on the picket lines reminded me of the movie Matewan just before the shootout. It seemed to me at the time as if the fate of the world, or at least the labor movement, hinged on the outcome. Eventually, the union won a restoration of benefits, which have helped thousands of retirees and survivors over the years. But UMWA membership continued to decline.

The strike developed in the aftermath of another less fortunate strike against Massey subsidiaries earlier in the decade. Like Pittston would later do, Massey withdrew from the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), the industry bargaining group. This was the beginning of Massey's spree of union busting, environmental failures, intimidation, political manipulation, safety shortcuts and the rest.

Massey's power would grow over the years in power and influence, like the rising power of Mordor in The Lord of the Rings.

Ironically, Pittston withdrew from the coal industry in the years following the strike, with many of its assets sold to Massey.

Fast forward to this date in 2010, when a mammoth explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch underground mine in Montcoal WV killed 29 miners. Before Massey bought the mine from Peabody Coal in 1993, it had been a union operation. But after a strong anti-union campaign led by former Massey CEO and now candidate for the US senate (!), the union was decertified by the late 1990s.

Without a union, miners had less of a voice in working conditions, and especially mine safety. With terrible consequences. You can read all about it here.

Much happened in the wake of the disaster. There were investigations, lawsuits, fines and criminal prosecutions, including the first ever conviction of the CEO of a major corporation for conspiring to evade safety rules. Massey no longer exists. But eight years later, the Republican controlled congress has yet to pass meaningful mine safety legislation, such as that advocated by the late great Senator Robert C. Byrd.

This day reminds me of the best and worst in West Virginia history, of what working people organized in unions can achieve and of what can happen if unions are weakened and defeated.

During WV's recent and successful teachers' strike, I felt echoes of Pittston days, with crowds at the capitol almost as large as the ones in 1989. And it was great to feel the warm presence of UMWA members rallying in solidarity.

Times have changed but our recent and more distant history shows that the need for working class solidarity is as urgent as ever. And that's not likely to change.

Reclaiming Appalachia

A Republican-leaning public opinion research recently released a multi-state coal country survey on attitudes on the RECLAIM Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that has generated some buzz in the US House. The group, Public Opinion Strategies, found overwhelming support for the Act across the region and across political lines.

Here's some of what the proposed legislation would do:

“A proposal in Congress would release one billion dollars in existing money from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund which was collected from coal producers over the last forty years. The proposal, known as the RECLAIM Act, would release this money to affected states to help revitalize coal communities hit hardest by the downturn in the coal industry. Communities could apply for grants to restore abandoned mine lands, invest in economic development projects to put people to work, and tackle infrastructure needs such as ensuring clean drinking water."

This legislation is different from the Miners Protection Act, which has gained traction in the US Senate. That legislation would use AML money to protect promised health care benefits to over 20,000 miners.

The United Mine Workers supports both, but the latter is its top priority and the union has said its support for RECLAIM hinges on passage of the Miners Protection Act first. The AML currently has a budget of $2.5 billion.

I'd like to see both pass, but at this point I'd be glad to see either--and I hope the bills don't kill each other. It is nice that despite political polarization and overheated rhetoric these days, politicians from both major parties have agreed on the need to come to the help of those harmed by the downturn in the coal industry.

Annals of absurdity

This quote from former South Carolina senator Jim DeMint caught my eye:

"...no liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves."

Sorry, Jim, but I don't think we can chalk that advance up to the market, since markets in states like yours sold human beings. As for how all that ended, I seem to recall something the unfortunate Confederate general George Pickett said in another context: "The Union Army had something to do with it." Which was a public institution. Kind of a big one.

COAL MINERS AND CODE. I'm not sure how much Michael Bloomberg knows about coal or coal miners, but he might have been right about the whole coding thing.

SUFFERING AND SUCH. I'm not always on the same page as David Brooks, but he gets a pass with this one.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Four for the road

Paul Krugman shows up quite a bit at Goat Rope, but today's op-ed about a war on the poor is better than usual and worth a close look.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, one in five West Virginians, along with millions of people around the country, will face cuts in SNAP benefits (aka food stamps) today.

BLACK LUNG. There's an old saying that if you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all. Here's an article about a law firm that is really good at keeping sick miners from getting black lung benefits. Nuff said.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. Workforce WV got a federal grant to provide paid training for displaced miners. It's not enough, but it's a step in the right direction.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED