The assault by the employers against the Coal Act began more than 20 years ago when the coal bosses provoked a showdown battle with the UMWA. The result was a 111-day nationwide UMWA strike, one of the most important labor battles in decades. The miners defied then president James Carter's ordering them back to work. In the process they blocked a concerted union-busting assault and strengthened the UMWA. Although they came out of that battle on an overall stronger footing, the miners lost their "free" health care with the introduction of fee-for-service co-payments for the first time in decades.

The next major test came in 1989 when the Pittston Coal Group announced that they were cutting off medical benefits of retired miners and their widows. This provoked an 11-month strike by Pittston miners, who fought off Pittston's attempt to deny medical benefits to retired union members.

Since then, the mineworker's union has fought several defensive battles. The coal bosses are still on the prod. The attack on retired miners is not something off in the future. It is happening now. Some hospitals are sending bills to miners, using collection agencies, and taking miners to court. This comes on top of lawsuits — 60 to date, and the list is growing — the coal bosses have filed against paying lifetime benefits. In addition, many of the largest coal barons have simply refused to pay premiums totaling $100 million into the Workers Comp Fund.

With their pals in government and the court system, the coal bosses are getting away with murder — literally — by denying thousands of miners black lung benefits. In 1997 only 0.9 percent of miners seeking compensation in Kentucky, the third largest coal-producing state, received benefits! Black lung is a preventable disease. But almost 30 years after federal legislation was enacted to combat it, the disease is still the main killer of miners.

The 1998 Supreme Court ruling, letting Eastern Enterprises off the hook, was posed in clear class terms. Arguing that the Coal Act violated the Fifth Amendment's ban on "taking" property for public use without compensation, is a cover-up. What they are really saying is, "You miners are too damn old! We're sick of paying your bills!"

The capitalist families that rule this country have a different view than working people do on what constitutes a "lifetime." Speaking about Social Security and education, which applies also to health care, Socialist Workers Party national secretary Jack Barnes explains in Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium: "Workers think of each other in terms of a lifetime. We cannot think of each other the way capitalists think of us. We cannot make ourselves think of other human beings as though they do not exist up to the age of thirteen or after the age of sixty-five. That is not how workers function. We have a different class view, a different moral view of society. Elementary human solidarity is in our interests, not in conflict with them."

Retired workers should not be tossed aside once they are no longer producing profits for the bosses. The labor movement must take up the fight for free, quality health care for all. The situation miners face today, as with other workers, is the direct result of the failure of the union officialdom to fight for the real needs of all working people — social security as an entitlement for our class, national health care, national unemployment insurance, and for a shorter workweek with no cut in pay.

Of the 85,000 miners today, less than one-third are in unions. The coal operators have been successful in raising their profit margins and their ability to run mines without the obstacle of the union by shifting production. More and more miners find themselves unemployed or working lower paid jobs. Many with years in UMWA mines are working in nonunion facilities, or as contract miners with little or no health benefits. This doesn't mean these miners are defeated or that they wouldn't jump at the chance to fight for the union.

In the 1920s, the proportion of coal mined under union contract fell from over 70 percent in 1922 to about 15 percent in 1932. With the rise of the workers movement in the 1930s, coming out of strike battles across the country following the Great Depression, unionization of miners shot back up, reaching 90 percent after World War II.

The struggle to maintain health benefits today is connected to the broader question of what lies ahead in the coalfields and what has already shifted in the working class. With new and younger workers getting hired in coal mines across the country, the tug-of-war between the coal bosses and the workers over whether coal will be mined union will deepen as the operators keep pushing to increase hours, speed up production, cut corners on safety, and gut health and safety benefits for all miners. It's a good time to join these struggles and spread the word about them at portals, other plants, and on the land.  
 
 
Home | Text-version home