The settlement followed the victory of a recent strike battle by the UMWA against Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co. at mines in New Mexico and Wyoming. There is little question the victory against P&M made Peabody think twice about taking on the union, a view expressed by many miners here.

All four of the Peabody operations are surface mines, producing 17 million tons of coal per year. Peabody is the world's largest coal company.

With the settlement, the company withdrew its earlier demands for a 12-hour day and for overtime pay only after 40 hours of work in a week.

Peabody had also proposed that workers at Black Mesa and Kayenta--mines located on the large Navajo reservation here--give up their company-paid health care and instead use the federally funded Indian Health Services. Because of a Native American hiring preference policy won by the union, almost all the miners at these two mines are from the Navajo or Hopi tribes.

This attempt to undermine the workers' health-care coverage was withdrawn during negotiations when it became clear the miners were making preparations to strike. Eugene Badinoe, financial secretary and official spokesperson for UMWA Local 1924 at Kayenta, explained, "The union members have been getting ready since last July by paying bills and saving up money."

The agreement includes a wage increase of 32 cents an hour each of the five years of the contract, continued 100 percent company payment for medical costs, and a substantial increase in retirement benefits. This increase in miners' pensions will put them on a par with miners covered by the UMWA's contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association, a national employers group.

Badinoe noted, "We are the only mines left in the Western coal surface agreement who still have 100 percent health care. This in itself is a big victory."

Kayenta, with 342 workers, is the biggest of the four mines. It produces close to 700,000 tons of coal per month. Black Mesa is the next-largest with 201 workers.

The settlement the Peabody miners ratified closely matches what the miners at P&M's McKinley mine--also on the Navajo Nation--won through their strike. The unionists at that company beat back a similar attempt to impose 12-hour workdays and other concessions.

"The P&M strike helped us," Badonie explained. "We supported them because we knew what they got would be what we would get. We helped picket and financially helped. We cannot afford to stand-alone today. We have to support our brothers."

The growing solidarity throughout the West with the UMWA strike against P&M was a decisive factor in pushing back the bosses' assault on the union.  
 
 
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