The terms of the proposed contract, which would have run to the end of 2006, would have tied the parties to most of the terms in agreements signed between the UMWA and the Bituminous Coal Operators of America (BCOA), but not wages. The rejected contract provided for a 30-cent-an-hour increase every year beginning with the signing of the contract. The current agreement expires at the end of 2002.

Maple Creek is owned by an independent coal operator, Robert Murray. His operations at Maple Creek began in July 1995. The previous January, U.S. Steel shut down its operations there, laying off miners. When the mine was reopened, miners agreed to a concession through which they fell almost $1 an hour behind the BCOA wage agreement. Because of the wage freeze in place since then, miners at Maple Creek have fallen almost $3 behind the national agreement. All the larger mines in southwestern Pennsylvania, union and nonunion, have wage rates at the level of the national agreement or better.

Murray was seeking this agreement as part of his plans to open a new mine, New Century, which is adjacent to Maple Creek and where miners would transfer over to as the current mine ends operations.

The company was surprised by the overwhelming margin of the vote against the contract proposal. The day after the vote, the company handed out a letter from Murray to every miner and sent copies to their homes. It claimed the rejection was "a deliberate effort by a small group of individuals" and alleged the agreement was "sabotaged." Statements like this only added to the anger of the miners, who knew exactly what they were doing in rejecting the contract.

The letter by Murray ended with an ultimatum: "Because we suspect mischief in this vote, I am giving the hourly employees of Maple Creek...until midnight on Monday, December 18 to approve" the agreement. The letter added that if the agreement was not approved then, Maple Creek would be unable to borrow the $13.2 million needed for the New Century mine and would immediately begin "phasing down operations."

Frank Wydo, president of UMWA Local 1248, said, "That's a dead issue. There will be no revote on the proposal, the vote was taken and the membership has spoken." In interviews with miners, the overwhelming majority feel they are underpaid and that the contract should fall under the national BCOA contract. They also don't like being dictated to by the owner of the mine.

The contract rejection sent a message to the Maple Creek bosses that the union is more unified and stronger than they thought.

Miners at Maple Creek struck for three days in October 1999. As a result of the strike, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the company and the union, which included an extension of the contract and gave the union coverage for the New Century mine.

Murray is ranked as the largest independent individual coal operator in the country. Besides Maple Creek, he owns longwall mines in Ohio and Illinois and other mining operations in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. In the last two years he has reported spending $197 million on improving the Galatia mine in Illinois. Murray is also taking steps to open a mine in Utah and another mine in Ohio, and has been inspecting mines owned by American Electric Power in Ohio that are on the market.

Tony Lane is a member of United Mine Workers of America Local 1248.  
 
 
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