The demonstration was called by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). The spirited crowd included elected officials of the UMWA International and District 17, retired and disabled union members, and a layer of working coal miners.

The protest was a boost to the union's renewed efforts to reorganize the southern coalfields of West Virginia. District 17's membership has plummeted from around 30,000 in 1979 to 4,000 today. Many of the miners present were veterans of previous battles against the coal bosses, including the 1984–85 strike against A.T. Massey.

In 1984, Massey refused to sign the agreement between the UMWA and the Bituminous Coal Operators Association. This led to a bitter strike in which the UMWA was defeated. Several miners were framed up in the strike and remain in jail to this day. Since then Massey has expanded its nonunion operations, today employing 3,610 workers, 152 of whom--4.2 percent of the total--are UMWA members.

The company is now the largest coal producer in central Appalachia and the fifth largest in the United States, controlling 2.1 billion tons of coal reserves, up from about 700 million tons in 1987. Last year Massey mined 76.5 percent of its coal in southern West Virginia, where the company also owns 78 percent of its coal reserve. The company runs 18 coal mining complexes in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southwestern Virginia.

Massey was a subsidiary of Fluor Corporation until it was spun off as a separate, publicly traded company last year. Its stock has skyrocketed over the last year from $6 per share to $26 per share in May, an increase of 315 percent.

Speaking in the parking lot, UMWA International president Cecil Roberts said, "A.T. Massey may have changed its name in the past few years, but Massey's attitude towards its workers, the environment, and Appalachia's economic well-being have not changed much since the UMWA was engaged in a bitter strike with them in the 1980s. In fact its attitude may be worse."

In a statement released to the press, the union president outlined several reasons for the protest, such as "the recent collapse of a Massey operation's coal slurry impoundment in Martin County, Kentucky; the failure of Massey to contribute what it owes to the West Virginia Workers Compensation Fund; an abysmal health and safety record that in this year alone has already resulted in two of West Virginia's five mining fatalities occurring at Massey operations; and Massey's regressive contract bargaining with UMWA members at several of the company's coal preparation plants."

Some of the UMWA pickets carried signs that read, "A.T. Massey, Pay Up!--$30,000,000," referring to the figure the company owes to the West Virginia Workers Compensation Fund. Other signs pointed to a recent case of A.T. Massey coal dust fraud, where a Massey foreman pled guilty to fraudulent dust sampling.

Coalfield residents are still in an uproar over the callous disregard Massey showed last fall when it released more than 250 million gallons of sludge in Kentucky. Initially the company said the spill was caused by an "act of God," the same excuse the Pittston Coal company made in 1972 after the Buffalo Creek Disaster, which killed 125 people. There is growing concern about the safety of several coal waste impoundments in the Coal River Valley.

Massey was also cited by the Surface Mine Board last year for allowing "fugitive dust" to coat the town of Sylvester, which is not far from the miners' protest action.

After the rally at the park, miners caravaned 15 miles, stopping about half a mile from the Elk Run Mine. From there miners marched to the mine's entrance. After chanting, "Union, Union" and singing union solidarity songs, several UMWA officials staged a civil disobedience sit-in on the busy highway, backing up traffic as far as the eye could see. About 30 minutes into the protest the West Virginia state police moved in and arrested a dozen protesters, including UMWA president Roberts.

Over the past few years the union has stepped up its organizing efforts at several Massey mines. Initially, Massey paid its miners union wages, but later began to cut wages and benefits, according to a few miners at the protest. They said Massey is notorious for using contractors, who are paid even less. This has led to growing unrest at Massey mines, and more miners are open to meeting with union organizers.

Last November, for example, the union called off a National Labor Relations Board election at Massey's Performance Coal mine when the company hired 46 new miners just before the vote. The union decided to withdraw the union petition, but it was clear it was on the verge of carrying the vote. Miners said they are confident that they would win in the end.

The coal boom and the subsequent price rise--spot-market coal has been selling for up to $70 a ton, almost triple last year's average price--has led to a rapid increase in coal production. Coal bosses are scrambling to meet their contracts and are desperate for qualified miners.

The labor shortage has gotten so bad in Kentucky that the coal bosses are advertising on local TV stations, and according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, "State mining officials say they have received serious inquiries recently about bringing in miners from Mexico, Russia, and the Ukraine."

The objective conditions are better today for miners to take back concessions they were forced to give up to the coal bosses over the past two decades. The organizing activity and rally at Elk Run Mine are a reflection of a new mood now seen among coal miners.

Frank Forrestal and Larry Quinn are members of United Mine Workers of America Local 1248 in Pennsylvania.  
 
 
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