In 2015, an era came to an end for Kentucky coal miners. The last mine to employ union workers closed due to decreased demand for coal. The closure comes amid tighter federal regulations, higher wages for nonunion workers and obsolete Appalachian coal mines. The next step for these workers includes finding good wages and benefits in a dwindling market.
In early 2015, Patriot Coal announced its desire to shut down the Highland Mine in Western Kentucky. That facility employed 400 union workers who earned $24 per hour and worked four 10-hour shifts per week. Some nonunion jobs required six-day work weeks for less hourly pay. An employee who worked at Patriot Coal for a few months before Highland Mine's closure had to move 300 miles to Harlan County, Kentucky, to find another job with a different mine. The nonunion position doesn't pay as much.
Benefits for miners vary from company to company since the United Mine Workers of America has no presence in Kentucky. Employees must follow the demand. West Virginia still has 30,000 union members because coal mines in that state were not affected by the federal regulations placed on high-sulfur coal. The union remains strong there, despite the Upper Big Branch disaster that killed 29 miners in 2010.
Kentucky and West Virginia both served as a hotbed of unionizing coal mines from the 1920s to the 1980s. Striking workers faced no pay while picketing outside mine entrances. State authorities and police set up machine guns across the street from picket lines at some protests. Dozens of people died amid violence that occurred due to the pickets. Historians refer to many of these incidents as battles, even though Congress never declared war against striking coal miners who simply wanted better working conditions.
In the heyday of Harlan County, Kentucky, the area harbored as many as 400 coal mines. After the contraction and closure of many places, that number stands at 40. "Blood Harlan" saw machine gun fire erupt in the mid-1980s as a long strike from 1984 and 1985 halted coal mining there for months. Retiree Charles Dixon recalls bullets striking his trailer one night as he was lying in bed. The coal industry has changed a lot since that time.
New federal regulations have led, in part, to the demise of coal mines. In 2014 and 2015, federal judges in Colorado ruled coal companies must take into account the overall environmental impact of their activities, including carbon creation with respect to global warming, when federal agencies review the impact of mines. That ruling affected one mine, but coal companies fear other federal judges and agencies may feel differently with regards to mine inspections.
According to energy companies, higher wages, better safety conditions and tighter regulations led to the demise of coal unions since those entities became obsolete in Kentucky. As the industry shifts, coal mines that survive the supply-and-demand movement and embrace more efficient mining operations are likely to reap the most benefits. Workers must follow the jobs, just as miners must relocate to areas with the best coal.
Photo courtesy of dan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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