KENTUCKY MINERS STRIKE s down Smttrki mount ty ha off th fields instrm windit lesson the A The eleme owns t work The 1 The UMW 'Bloody ity DAVID STOLL nition of the United Alinework- L SKIICTS IT to the west, ers of America (UMW) as their u rr that motorists driving bargaining agent.e to l-ori Ia or the Great T he Brookside srike is im- t es see only a few scalped portant because it pits Arnold r ain ridges atd some dir- Miller's reformed UMW against ze it the air. But a trip a large corporation under pres- d e interstate into the coal- sutre from the energy crisis. a of e-rstern Kentucky is Owner of the mine, through t ctive, because up those it subsidiary Eastover Mining t tg two-ltrne highways is a Company, is the Duke Power in the infrastructure of Corporation. Sixth largest util- t merican dream. ity in the country and third lar- l coal fields lay bare some gest consumer of coal, the cor- V ntary facts about what poration also represents the ma- a this country, who does the jor endowment of Duke Uni- b and who srrffers the lack. versity. t esson is visible in the Resurging from the long de- n UMW. and in recent years the union has won few organizing elections. But as it has for for- y years, the UMW remains a rallying point, not just to its membership, but to legions of disabled and retired miners in region where it is frequently he only organized counterforce o the coal industry. The strike is also the first est of will for the new UMW eadership against the industry. With coal production booming rnd prices soaring, the UMW badly wants to channel some of he wealth from unorganized mines into its battered Wel- but Eastoser offici to accept the stant try - wide UMW month later, after mised $100 a week their families by tht miners went out or late November, aft bargaining sessions pany announced ti breaking off negotia the basic attitude o changed." There h bargaining since. G over managed to ke open for a time wit crew, five months al judge ordered it sht returns Harlan' coal camps strung out along the state routes, in the little col- lections of houses up the hol- lows, and at the entrances to the mines, barred by high chain link fencing. After booming down through Ohio at seventy miles an hour, it's like corning to a sudden stop. Garnt facts become ob- vious in those hills, facts which we've known before and tried to forget. As one returns to the interstate and the prosperous suburbs of automobile and movement, the memory con- tinues to disturb for a little while,etrouling the smooth crrncrete srrrfaces, then fades. BUT THE PICKET lines are up again in larlan County, and when that happens peopl and when that happens people outside the mountains sit up and take notice. Since July of last year 160 miners hrve been or strike at the Brookside Mine in Harlan, holding out for recog- "The Brookside mine, and the company-owned camp of the name which surrounds it, are just two miles up the road fro little community of Evarts where, on May 5, 1931, gunfirei between mine guards and union men, leaving at least five pi dead and the county with the epithet 'Bloody Harlan'." to county ials refused cott. The union not only took lard, indus- out a full-page ad in the Wall contract. A Street Journal asking investors being pro- not to put their money into benefits for Duke, but also imported forty e UMW, the Harlan miners to picket the n strike. In stock exchange. er fourteen THE UMW has also spent the com- $20,000 on full-page newspaper hat it was ads attacking the corporation tions ."until in the Carolinas, 'where Duke f the UMW supplies electricity to three and as been no a half million customers and While East- has aroused intense consumer ep the mine opposition over rate increases. h a skeleton After telling consumers in an go a federal extensive advertising campaign ut down for to cut down on their use of ....a...m electricity because of the ener- gy crisis, Duke then asked for same a large rate increase because m the it said decreased consumption had increased its costs. Duke flared had earlier told its customers ersons to increase their consumption of electricity, then asked for rate increases to finance ex- pansion. :rate rate-payers in North Carolina, smarting under their rike began fifth rate increase in recent rrests have years, are currently packing for violation utility commission hearings Hogg's in- which will determine whether more than Duke is allowed to keep a 17 -h mine en-_ per cent temporary increase granted it last year. es and sup- U M W SPOKESPERSONS ongregating also point hopefully to figures s and were which they say indicate the her, strike shutdown is costing Duke $1 olding "sun- million a month, but whether es" on the it is or not Duke officials deny rarby, pro- the strike is hurting them. A one-time A late-comer to the coal is- in a small dustry, Duke did not purchase udge tlogg the Brookside mine until tune, ssed $500 1970, since which time it has h suspended bought a total of five other ixteen guil- mines in East Kentucky and rg eight wo- Virginia. The corporation says it for refus- it hopes to get one third of its es, the wo- 15 million ton coal requirement no one to from its own mines this year, ren so they but Brookside would have pro- om two to duced only about ten percent h them, re- of this in any case. cline which began in the latter days of John L. Lewis and worsened tinder Tony Boyle, the UMW is the first of the big rnions to have its entrenched leadership overthrown by a rank and file movement. THE STRIKE is an import- ant demonstration of renewed militancy by the union, and es- r'ecially in East Kentucky. Nev- er very strong in the first place, the UMW's hold there has slip- ned dr-rstically in the last two decades. Fully a third of the miners in the area are non- Michigan Daily Edi ted and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Friday, May 31, 1974 News Phone: 764-0552 Legalized drugso? THE MICHIGAN HOUSE and Senate have finally voted their way out from under the thumbs of large phar- maceutical companies, by passing similar versions of a bill which allows pharmacists to dispense generic drugs instead of often more expensive brand name drugs spe- cified in prescriptions. This means that consumers who are willing to spend time shopping comparatively will be able to save on their medicine bills. We recommend that as a follow-up to this laudable bill, t' stah r legislature socialize the medical profession in Miclthigan. -STEPHEN HERSII and MARNIE HEYN DO"E mi.RAis'roT, 1999-r9'4- fare and Retirement fund. And as industry-wide contracts ex- pire in November, the strike is also a demonstration to the giant energy corporations with which the union will have to negotiate a new contract. MAKING ITS WAY into the national media early t h i s soring, the strike owes more than a little of the attention it's getting to its setting. The Brookside mine, and the company-owned camp of the same name which surrounds it, are just two miles trp the road from the little community of Evarts where, on May 5, 1931, gunfire flared between mine guards and union men, leaving at least five persons dead and the county with the epithet "Bloody tarlan." From World War I into the late thirties Harlan County was the scene of bitter labor strug- gles between coal operators and onions determined to organize. Thrown out of work by the thousands as the mines skirted bankruptcy or closed, miners were evicted from their homes, horrses dynamited, men beaten ard shot and their families threatened. WHILE NOTHING like ths desperation and violence of the old days has appeared to date at Brookside, some things haven't changed. Men still keep their shotgons handy while the strike is on, mine entrances and company officials are pro- tected by armed guards, and shootings have occurred. Min- ers and their wives clash with scabs on the picket line. A coal operators' judge severely re- strict picketing; imposing harsh sentences and fines on those who violate his orders. Although many of the Brook- side strikers have fathers or uncles who were active in the union battles of the thirties, when they voted in June, 1973, to recognize the UMW as their bargaining agent it came as a surprise. UMW - initiated or- g-rnizing efforts in the area had sputtered and died. When the rainer-initiated d r i v e a t Brookside succeeded, it caught the UMW leadership off guard. THE WORKERS at Brookside had been represented by the Southern Labor Union (SLU), an sn-militant outfit started by coal operators in the 1950s. With hospitalization benefits, and wage settlements inferior to those of the UMW, the SLU had also failed to press miners' demands for portal to portal pay and resolution of numer- ous safety violations in the mine. The miners voted 113-55 in fa- vor of the UMW in an election supervised by the National La- bor Relations Board (NLRB), safety reasons. SINCE THE sty more than fifty at been made, mostly f of Judge F. Byrd junctiqn against three pickets at eat Irance. After miners' wiv porters took to c near mine entrance arrested last Octo supporters took to hr rise revival service railroad tracks ne voking more arrests. major stockholder mining company, J subsequently asse fines and six - monft sentences against s ty parties - includin men. Ordered to ja ing to pay their fin men said they had care for their childr took youngsters frr seven years old wit "While nothing like the desperation and violence of the old days has appeared to date at Brookside, some things haven't changed. Men still keep their shotguns handy while the strike is on, mine entrances and company officials are protected by armed guards, and shootings have oc- cured." srlting in a spate of sympathetic publicity. More recently other members of what is called "The Brookside Women's Club" have been arrested for lying down in the road to block trucks driv- en by non-union workers. THE UNION claims that the basic issue in the strike is re- cognition of the UMW as bar- gaining agent, but it also re- mains deadlocked with the company on several other is- sues. These include royalty for the UMW's welfare and re- tirement fund--the union wants 75 cents a ton (the company will offer only .50); the right of the union to shut down the mine if it considers it unsafe; and extension of the UMW con- tract to other mines owned by Duke.-. Costing the union $20,000 a week in benefits, as the strike goes into its tenth month, the UMW effort is taking on the di- mension of total struggle as practiced by Farmworkers and Farah boycotters. The day Duke made a $100 million bond and an $85 million stock offering on the New York exchange, the UMW re- sponded with what may be a pioneer tactic, the stock boy- Duke has yet to show any eagerness to settle but the un- ion faces a severe test as the strike approaches its second year. When the current agree- ment expires on June 26, tinder NLRB rules the strikers will not be eligible to vote for an- other UMW agreement. The company will have the right to fire them, hire new men and hold its own election, the isse of which worrld likely -be in favor of the St.U. TO FORESTALL that event- uality, on May 14 the UMW fil- ed an eleven - count complaint with the NLRB, charging that the company has not been bar- gaining in good faith and that the SLU has engaged in unfair labor practices. Incrlrded were tape - recorded conversations, photographs and sworn state- ments from two UMW support- ers, charging that two SLU of- ficials gave them $300 cash, and promised $5,000 more, if they would break the UMW strike. If the NLRB substantiates the UMW's charges, then the elec- tion will be postponed and the Brookside strikers will gain more time.