BY CAPPY KIDD AND BETSEY STONE
FARMERSVILLE, Illinois - By a margin of 202 to 154, members
of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) at Freeman United
Coal voted December 17 to ratify a four-year contract, ending a
hard-fought 98-day strike.
Workers at Freeman's three mines in central Illinois went on strike September 11 after the company threatened to gut medical benefits for retirees.
From the outset the company made it clear it would go to extreme lengths to force concessions on the miners. They deployed the notorious strikebreaking agency Vance Security. They filed a million-dollar lawsuit against the UMWA International and the three striking locals, challenging their basic right to strike.
Freeman ran ads for scabs in local newspapers and began mining coal, first with people taken from management and then with scabs.
The strikers fought back, organizing rallies, expanded pickets and car caravans, deepening the involvement of the rank and file in strike activities, and winning support for the strike from other unions and community groups.
Nevertheless, the new contract just voted contains significant steps backward, not only from earlier UMWA contracts at Freeman but from the 1998 national contract negotiated by the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), which covers the majority of organized miners.
Key concessions include:
1) In place of a company-funded system of health-care insurance covering retirees and their families, the agreement establishes monthly cash payments for the retirees to purchase their own medical insurance.
The amount of money paid out from the company to the miners is greater than proposed before the strike, but many miners do not consider it adequate.
For miners with pre-existing conditions who will find it difficult or impossible to get insurance, a $1 million fund has been created. But to receive these funds, a miner must get the recommendation of a four-person board comprised of two representatives from the company and two from the union.
2) New rules in the contract undercut the system of bidding for jobs according to seniority, so the company now has more say over who does what job. Rule changes also give the company more control over who gets recalled from layoffs.
3) A two-year "attendance control" program has been instituted for workers recalled from layoff. Workers are subject to dismissal if they have two consecutive unexcused absences from work, two nonconsecutive unexcused absences in any month, or three in any 90-day period. The Freeman mines operate on a six- day workweek.
Under the new contract Freeman will let go of the replacement workers.
Wages will go from $17.51 an hour to $18.51 an hour over the four years of the contract.
Representatives of the UMWA International Union negotiated the contract with the company and recommended the miners approve it. An article in the State Journal Register quotes International representative Bill Hoback as calling the contract "a good deal - for both sides."
The day before the contract vote, UMWA president Cecil Roberts was quoted in the Journal Register saying, "This agreement is equal to or better than the '98 [BCOA] contract. But each miner has to decide that for themselves." He went on to say, "I don't want to make any predictions, but I hope this is coming to an end."
Company threatens to close mines
On the eve of the vote the company announced that if the
miners rejected the contract, the current and future scabs would
become permanent replacement employees. The company also
threatened workers with closing the mines. Illinois coal is high
in sulfur and is therefore affected by federal clean air
legislation. Company spokespeople claimed that without cutting
costs they would not be able to compete with low-sulfur western
coal.
This threat was harped on by the press. The headline in the December 20 Taylorville Breeze-Courrier announcing the ratification vote proclaimed, "Union approval of contract ensures longer life for coal company."
Greg Mahan, president of UMWA Local 1969 at the Crown no. 2 mine, commented that the threat to close the mines was an important factor influencing those who voted to ratify the contract. Mahan said one miner who voted yes expressed it this way: "I didn't vote for the contract. I voted to go back to work."
The attack on seniority in job bidding is a special danger since it opens the way for the company to divide workers by playing favorites and to discriminate against union fighters in assigning jobs. As Frank Hasquin, a miner at Crown no. 2, explained, "This will allow the company to pick and choose, and weed out the people they don't like."
There is also great concern about the limited funds for workers with catastrophic illness. Bill Dillon, who has 22 years in the mines and has been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, explained that if the four-person panel vetoes a request for funds the only recourse is legal action. The company could tie this up in the court forever, he commented.
Gains of the strike
Despite these and other concessions, many miners point to
important gains from the strike. David Yard, a trustee on the
Miner's Relief Fund, put it this way: "The strike showed the
strength we have. We are not the same people we were 98 days ago.
Many guys have gained more confidence and understanding - there's
a stronger bond among us."
Yard said he felt this bond when miners left the bathhouse wishing each other a good Christmas. The feeling was not one of defeat. He mentioned that a co-worker said to him that despite the vote for a bad contract, the workers "put on one hell of a strike."
There is a lot of pride in how the strike was organized. Maggie Filson is part of the families' auxiliary and heads up the organization of the food pantry at strike headquarters. Her husband Rick has worked at the Crown no. 2 mine for more than 21 years. "When we started out, we had 54 boxes of groceries a week," she says. "Now we are up to 218 boxes.... We've received donations from as far away as Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, and other places."
"Being able to supply the grocery needs helps strikers a lot," Filson said. "That way they can spend their limited money on other bills."
Frank Doric, who has 18 years at Crown no. 3, pointed to the heavy attack the miners were up against. "They [the company] hide behind security, scabs, police, FBI agents, lawyers, politicians, and the court to bully people into doing their will," he explained.
In countering an attack from the FBI, the miners set a real example. On November 6, FBI agents showed up at the home of Georgia Yard, David Yard's grandmother, demanding to search a tool shed on her property. When she demanded to see a search warrant, they left. Three days later the cops returned with the warrant, found nothing, and were told to leave.
The miners publicly opposed this attack, passing out leaflets describing the FBI harassment and sending letters to the editors of newspapers. Georgia Yard was received at rallies as a hero of the strike for standing up to the FBI.
Fight against mine bosses continues
Miners are discussing what comes next. Paul Perrine, the mine
committee chairman of Local 1969, explained a concern, expressed
by many, that the coal bosses would attempt to impose the
concessions won in central Illinois on other locals. The Freeman
miners have to educate on this, he said.
Perrine and others are already discussing and preparing for the continuing fight against the day-to-day attacks on workers on the job.
The miners have begun to discuss how to spread what they have learned to others on strike. "We got a lot of solidarity and support from other unions," Perrine commented. "We want to thank them. And now we can get out and support others on strike, like the Steelworkers, like the thousands of locked-out workers, and others on strike. We can't let the fire go out."
Betsey Stone is a member of the International Association of Machinists. Cappy Kidd is a member of the United Auto Workers.