Woods was one of many miners who attended a Mitchell Day meeting at the Holiday Inn here April 1 to welcome Linda Chapman and Phyllis Tipton, who are at the halfway point of their 500-mile walk from Charleston, West Virginia, to Washington. The march is publicizing the fight that coal miners and their families are waging to win benefits, especially widows of miners. The widows' walk is supported by the National Black Lung Association (NBLA) and the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).

In the Reagan administration in the early 1980s the Labor Department changed the eligibility rules for the benefits program, making the widows of miners "prove" their spouses died of black lung in order to receive any compensation. After the new law the number of approved federal claims fell to a trickle. In response, the union declared a two-day memorial period and 10,000 miners picketed the White House in the spring of 1981.

From the beginning, the coal bosses have attacked the black lung program as a "handout." Miners see it differently. They see it as a right won as part of the fight to force the employers and the government to improve working conditions and safety in the mines. Workers recognize that the practices of the coal companies destroyed their health and they should be compensated as a result.

Linda Chapman, whose spouse died of black lung disease after working in the mines for 17 years, said for a person who has black lung, trying to breathe is like "putting a clothespin on your nose and stuffing a sock in your mouth." About 1,500 miners die every year from the disease. Chapman wants to get out the facts about this national disgrace.

UMWA District 2 president Ed Yankovich chaired the rally of about 300 people. It was attended by UMWA retirees, widows of UMWA miners, a layer of working miners, and elected UMWA officials from Pennsylvania and West Virginia. There were also elected political officeholders at the meeting.  
 
How the walk got started
After attending a Black Lung Association meeting in West Virginia last year, Chapman proposed that she lead a widows' walk to Washington. This was after going through eight years of fighting for black lung benefits for her husband--an ordeal that included being denied benefits on both the state and federal level. Not being able to find a lawyer, Chapman represented her husband who died of black lung in 2001. After this harrowing experience, Chapman and the Black Lung Association were determined to organize a protest.

Chapman is walking for widows, who because of age, cannot march with her to Washington. She makes it a point at every rally and press interview along the way that she is walking for the widows of miners. Chapman also makes the point that being defined as "widow" is not a word she "likes."

In criticizing the current federal black lung laws, Chapman presented a fighting perspective and appealed to the miners in the room to join her fight. "We're going to have to take back our voices," she said. "They may have taken your lungs but they didn't take your backbone. You better keep fighting for your black lung claims and don't shut up."

Chapman also blamed the coal companies, who pay, according to coal industry figures, just 6 cents per ton of coal for black lung benefits. Underscoring how paltry six cents is, Chapman said "this will really break them won't it?"  
 
Fewer than 4 percent receive benefits
The coal bosses, led by organizations like the National Mining Association (NMA), are determined to pay as little as possible. As one of NMA's attorneys put it, "black lung is largely a thing of the past. There is no need for the black lung program." Today fewer than 4 percent of miners who apply for benefits ever receive any. For those who are able to go through the appeals process the percentage increases to slightly less than 6 percent, according to Debbie Wills, secretary of the National Black Lung Association.

Cecil Roberts, president of the UMWA, was the final speaker at the rally. In supporting the Widows' Walk, Roberts reminded the audience of the big battles that erupted in the coalfields after the 1968 Farmington disaster that killed 78 miners. This disaster was captured on national TV and was one of the main events that spurred on thousands of coal miners to take direct action against the state government of West Virginia.

At one point some 40,000 coal miners went on a wildcat strike, virtually shutting down coal production for three weeks in the state. About 3,000 miners and their families marched on the capitol of Charleston and refused to leave until the governor signed a black lung bill.

Roberts said about 100,000 miners have died in mine disasters over the past century, and another 100,000 have fallen to black lung disease during the same period. "Nobody gives a damn in Congress," said Roberts. "It's time they start paying attention."

Roberts also connected the fight to defend black lung benefits to defending lifetime health benefits, what is commonly referred to as the Coal Act. In the face of adverse court decisions, and unrelenting attacks by the coal operators, Roberts said we may need "to go back to Washington, D.C., just as we did two years ago."

After the rally, many miners came up to Chapman to show support. Rosemary Woods, the wife of Timothy Woods, wanted to make sure that Chapman knew that "we are part of this fight." There were many miners at the Uniontown rally who had been denied black lung benefits and wanted to share their stories.

Earlier in the week, UMWA District 31 welcomed Chapman and Tipton in a spirited rally of 70 miners at the district's headquarters in Fairmont, West Virginia. After her press conference, several retired UMWA miners and a few widows came up to her and expressed heartfelt thanks. One miner showed his solidarity by giving Chapman a 1902 penny. For several days running, the Widows' Walk was front page news in the Times West Virginian and the Dominion Post, a daily out of Morgantown, West Virginia.

As they make their way to Washington, averaging close to 25 miles a day, the walk is gaining support from working people. Cars honking, giving the thumbs-up, and people giving financial support is an everyday occurrence, as well as a boost to morale.  
 
Union support
The largest contingent of working miners, about 15, came from the Maple Creek mine in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania. The week before the rally miners put up flyers advertising the rally in the bathhouse to build support. The participation from the local is not surprising since the UMWA miners at this mine have been locked in battle against the owner of the mine, Robert Murray, a notorious hater of the UMWA and the labor movement.

More than a year ago the local rejected a take-back contract by a vote of 335 to 10. Their seven-year contract, which includes a wage freeze since 1995, expires later this year. Maple Creek miners are determined to fight to get parity in wages and other benefits, the same as union miners organized in the BCOA.

Solidarity from the UMWA was also expressed at the meeting for the Utility Workers of America, Local 102, who have been working without a contract since May 2001. The employer, Allegheny Energy, who buys their coal from coal giant, Consol, is out to bust the union.

For more information on the Widows' Walk call Peggy Coleman at (304) 595-2280. Donations for the walk can be sent to the NBLA, c/o Tom Ellis, P.O. Box 632, Royalton, Illinois 62983. A web page with newspaper reports on the walk is available at www.knowareland.com.

Frank Forrestal is a member of the UMWA in southwestern Pennsylvania.  
 
 
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