Vol.64/No.19 May 15, 2000
Build May 17 miners rally
Retired and working miners, relatives, and many other supporters of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) will rally in Washington on May 17. They will be in the streets to demand Congress make sure retired miners continue to receive lifetime health care.
| EDITORIAL |
Supporters of the Militant should leave no stone unturned in getting out the word on the miners' rally by distributing this paper in the coalfields, at coal mine portals and plant gates, in working-class communities, and on campuses.
The rally, whose demand is "Defend the Coal Act—Keep the Promise!" deserves the support of working people across the country. Holding it in the nation's capital is dead right because, in response to miners' struggles, the federal government has agreed since 1946 to ensure cradle-to-grave health benefits for miners.
The employers' press often distorts how miners won this "promise," pretending that their lifetime benefits were the benevolent work of President Harry Truman. The opposite is the case. These benefits were won through a mass mobilization of coal miners in the 1940s.
Some of the miners who will be marching at the May 17 rally were active union members and participants in the 1946 nationwide strike. The coal bosses, pushed to the wall by hundreds of thousands of coal miners, went crying to the federal government for help.
Truman seized the mines, sent in armed troops, and ordered miners back to work. But the unionists simply refused to return to work—until Truman agreed to support their demand for lifetime health benefits. The miners said: "You can't dig coal with bayonets." The "promise" was the result of steadfast coal miners engaged in class politics, not the "good" work of a liberal president.
Over the past two decades, coal companies that agreed to pay lifetime benefits have backed out of their obligation. Recent court decisions have backed them up. We should expect more attempts by the coal bosses to wiggle out, just as they have done by refusing to pay premiums into the Workers Comp Fund.
The coal barons and their minions in the courts and government are basically saying, "You miners are too damn old. We're sick and tired of paying your bills!" We are dealing here with two opposing class views and morals. Retired miners, other workers, and farmers should not be tossed aside once they are no longer producing profits for the bosses. The employers look at actuarial tables of life expectancy, while workers look at elementary human solidarity.
We salute the veteran miners, some with 40-plus years of service, who today are retired. They know firsthand what conditions were like in the 1940s—a time when mining accidents led to an average of 1,120 fatalities and 50,300 injuries each year. A time when there was no federal government regulation of health and safety in the mines and medical facilities were inadequate.
The health card is a matter of pride. It directly affects coal miners' families, retired miners, and the coal mining community. How deep the question of health and safety is in the coalfields was brought home recently when 1,000 people commemorated the 100th anniversary of the mine explosion that killed 200 miners when the Pleasant Valley Coal Co.'s Winter Quarters mine exploded in Scofield, Utah.
Some nonunion miners have benefited from the UMWA's gains by getting a similar health plan. The majority, however, have few or no health benefits. Many of them are UMWA veterans and would jump at the chance to fight for the union. Miners and other workers—whether in the union or not—should pull out all stops to bring as many as possible to the May 17 rally.
The union has revitalized its alliance with the national Black Lung Association. The coal bosses are on a war footing to "squelch" new Black Lung regulations, arguing that the new proposals are based on "bad science." Black Lung disease is still the main killer of coal miners, and the May 17 rally will be an added boost to the Black Lung fight.
The union is urging "all UMWA members—retired, laid-off, active and associate" to attend the rally. Buses are being organized throughout the coalfields. And the union is urging miners to "bring along anyone else who supports preserving our pensioners' health care."
The fight to maintain health benefits is connected to the broader question of the battles ahead in the coalfields and what has already shifted toward working-class moods of struggle. The tug-of-war between bosses and miners over whether coal will be mined union or nonunion will deepen as the operators keep pushing to increase hours, speed up production, cut corners on safety, slash Black Lung benefits to the bone, and gut health and safety benefits for all miners. It's a good time to join these struggles and spread the word. See you in Washington May 17!