The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.35           October 5, 1998 
 
 
Black Lung Association Marks 30 Years Fighting Coal Bosses' Greed  

BY FRANK FORRESTAL AND DOROTHY KOLIS
BEAVER, West Virginia - About 85 people attended a one-day meeting here September 12 commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Black Lung Association (BLA). Participants at the event included BLA members, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) miners and retirees, U.S. Department of Labor officials, and some doctors and attorneys. The BLA represents about 10,000 miners nationwide.

Mike South, president of the National Black Lung Association, opened the gathering by noting that while the meeting commemorated the organization's 30th anniversary, it was not a time to "celebrate." South, a disabled miner who breathes with the aid of an oxygen tank, worked in West Virginia mines for more than 11 years, before being disabled at age 35. He said thousands of miners are still dying from the disease.

Black lung, also knows as miners' pneumoconiosis, is a disabling occupational lung disease caused by breathing coal dust. It is a progressive disease that causes shortness of breath and eventually suffocation. There is no cure for black lung but with proper ventilation in the mines, the disease can be prevented. Almost 30 years after federal legislation was enacted to combat black lung, the disease is still the main killer of miners. Nearly every family in central Appalachia has had a family member die of black lung.

Most miners' claims are denied
In recent years, miners throughout the coal fields have expressed growing concern at the deteriorating conditions in the mines and at coal bosses' efforts to eliminate any form of miners' compensation. Getting black lung benefits and holding onto them has become a nightmare for most workers who need them. According to UMWA figures, only about 7 percent of miners who applied for black lung benefits have received them since 1981, compared with 70 percent in the early 1970s. More than 6,000 new black lung claims are filed each year.

Last year almost no coal miners qualified for black lung benefits under Kentucky's new workers compensation law. In Pennsylvania, the Insurance Commissioner approved a 21 percent decrease in workers compensation rates for coal companies. According to Coal Age, a big-business magazine serving the coal industry, mining companies are expected to "realize $11 million in workers' compensation savings" as a result. Responding to the new law, Pennsylvania governor Thomas Ridge bragged, "This unprecedented rate reduction is a milestone that helps Pennsylvania coal mine companies become more competitive in the global market."

Many of the largest coal bosses in West Virginia - USX Corp., Island Creek Co., A.T. Massey, Peabody Coal Co., Eastern Associated Coal Corp. - have refused to pay premiums totaling $100 million into the Workers Compensation Fund. Some 30 lawsuits have been filed against these delinquent companies.

These conditions were exposed in a five-part series published in the Louisville Courier-Journal earlier this year. "Every year, black lung disease kills almost 1,500 people who have worked in the nation's coal mines," reported the paper. The articles detailed widespread cheating by coal companies of government-mandated tests intended to keep coal dust levels in check. The series reported that the government ignored this cheating and fraud "for decades."

"Coal is the closest thing to brute, unrepentant...capitalism that we have left in American life," editorialized the Courier-Journal. "If you don't believe that, just consider the fact that ranks of miners choke to death every year, because coal operators routinely cheat."

The paper reported that conditions in nonunion mines are qualitatively worse than union mines. According to the Courier-Journal, 96 percent of underground mines in Kentucky are nonunion. "Operators of union mines who scrimp on safety must deal with determined union stewards, who often call government inspectors if a problem isn't corrected," reported the Journal. "Nonunion miners who complain are often fired and blackballed, which make it almost impossible to get another job in a nearby mine, miners said."

The Journal reported that miners "described dust so thick they couldn't see their feet or the head lamps of other miners. Those who are still working spit up coal dust every morning."

Black lung strike of 1969
The meeting began with a video showing national news footage of developments in the coal fields that led to the black lung strike of 1969. In hearings on the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act in 1969, one witness said at least 365,000 miners in the United States had died of black lung. At that time there were only four known cases in West Virginia's history where a miner had been compensated for black lung.

Viewing the video one could see the militant mood that led to mass mobilizations of rank-and-file miners. No sanitary facilities in the mines, few bathhouses, no pay for sick or injured miners, growing mine fatalities, plus the wide prevalence of miners' lung diseases - all these conditions brought miners' discontent to the boiling point in the late 1960s.

The 1968 explosion of Consol's Farmington mine, which killed 78 miners, propelled the struggle against black lung and for mine safety into national prominence. Following the explosion, then-UMWA president Anthony Boyle, rationalized, "As long as we mine coal, there is always this inherent danger." Boyle also said Consol was "one of the best companies to work with as far as cooperation and safety are concerned." These statements rankled miners and served to strengthen their determination to fight for better conditions in the coal fields and oust Boyle from power.

At this time, the UMWA was led by a corrupt bureaucracy that under Boyle's leadership resorted to hooliganism and cold-blooded murder to subdue the ranks. The union tops supported a weaker black lung bill and accused the BLA of "dual unionism." Despite these obstacles, the rank-and- file-led Black Lung Association fought for stronger legislation.

At the height of the struggle, more than 40,000 miners from West Virginia were out on strike. Their fighting motto was: "No Law, No Coal." In the aftermath of the three-week strike, miners in West Virginia won black lung benefits for the first time. The successful black lung strike was also instrumental in the passing of the federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. For the first time black lung was recognized as an occupational disease. The government was forced to mandate allowable dust concentration levels in the mines and provided for compensation of miners disabled by black lung.

The 1969 strike gave rank-and-file miners the confidence to confront the Boyle gang and take back their union. This growth in confidence was reinforced in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the hiring of young miners. Eventually the Boyle machine was ousted from the leadership by the rank-and- file Miners for Democracy movement, which grew out of the 1969 black lung strike.

Black lung is a disease
In their efforts to win better health and safety in the mines, miners were aided by coal-field doctors who worked side by side with the miners. Ostracized by their profession, these doctors formed the Physicians for Miners' Health and Safety. They took on the coal bosses and in the process won the confidence of thousands of miners.

Two of these doctors, Hawey Wells and Donald Rasmussen, who played prominent roles in the black lung movement in the late 1960s, spoke on the panel, "Black Lung Movement: Then and Now." The panel was chaired by Craig Robinson, who became active in the black lung movement in the 1960s. In tribute to the 30th anniversary of the BLA, Robinson has been traveling around the coal fields showing a slide show documenting the mining areas he saw in the late 1960s.

Wells explained how medical authorities slighted the efforts of the doctors and their findings on the causes of black lung. At that time, cigarette smoking was said to be one of the main causes of black lung - an assertion once again in vogue 30 years later. Facing this roadblock, Wells said he realized that the way to change conditions was to go directly to the miners and their families.

In the late 1960s, Rasmussen had examined more than 3,000 miners suffering from black lung. He was regarded as the nation's leading expert on coal miners pneumoconiosis. At the meeting, Rasmussen's main point was to salute the miners that formed the "nucleus" of the black lung movement.

"I want to give credit to the original group of coal miners that formed the association," said Rasmussen. He then read off several workers' names, including Woodrow Mullins, Lyman Calhoun, Ernest Riddle, Charles Brooks, and Arnold Miller.

Brooks, a Black miner who began working in the mines in 1941, was the first president of the Black Lung Association. In an unpublished history entitled Miners for Democracy by Paul Nyden, Brooks recounted the story of how the Black Lung Association was formed. Both Brooks and Mullins were elected delegates to the UMWA convention in 1968 held in Denver.

"The last thing Boyle told us before we left the convention was to go back and organize the nonunion mines and fight for a Black Lung law. So that's what we tried to do. The first thing we did was to send a delegate to see the President of District 17 in Charleston. Our delegate was thrown out of the office. So we decided to set up our own organization and called it the Black Lung Association."

In his presentation to the meeting, Davitt McAteer, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Labor for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), said the current system is flawed since it relies on coal companies regulating themselves. McAteer compared it to an individual motorist being responsible for reporting their speeding violations to the police.

The Louisville Courier-Journal articles described how MSHA didn't lift a finger for two decades against the coal bosses, despite "overwhelming evidence that many coal-mine operators were exposing their workers to dangerous amounts of coal dust and covering it up."

Prior to his position at the Labor Department, McAteer was the executive director of the Occupational Safety and Health Law Center, and was widely quoted criticizing MSHA for doing too little to enforce limits on coal dust. Since moving on to his new position, however, McAteer has called off several investigations into coal-dust fraud, as well as prosecutions against coal bosses.

Jerry Jones, UMWA international vice president, spoke at the gathering for the UMWA. He blamed the recent attacks on miners benefits on "Republicans taking over Congress in 1994."

Kentucky has gone the furthest in attacking black lung benefits. Under the previous workers compensation law between 1994 and 1996, 79.6 percent received or qualified for benefits. However, in 1997 only .9 percent received benefits. Not surprisingly, there have been visible protests organized by the BLA in Kentucky, which has resulted in four public hearings.

The BLA is determined to continue to fight for black lung benefits for miners. Said Susie Davis, president of the Kentucky BLA, "We know these young miners aren't thinking about black lung. But they are going to get it, and we will be here when they need us."

Dorothy Kolis is a member of the United Steelworkers of America Local 1211 and is the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress.  
 
 
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