The U.M.W.: In Near Anarchy

I've stood for the union; walked in the line. Fought against the company. I've stood for the U.M. W. of A. Now who's gonna stand for me? --From a Billy Edd Wheeler song

For 40 years coal miners never had to ask that question. With the autocratic John L. Lewis in command, the United Mine Workers of America stood in the vanguard of American labor. Lewis staged epic brawls with Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, and the strikes he called paralyzed the economy, but his union grew strong. The greatest Lewis victory occurred in 1947 when he got the operators to pay 100 on every ton of coal mined to miners' retirement funds and lifelong free medical benefits.

Today, his union's fortunes are dismal. With 194,000 active members, and 90,000 retirees to represent (peak membership: 600,000 in 1946), the U.M.W. is badly wounded. Three of the four pension and medical-benefit trust funds are broke. The union, which owns more than 75% of the National Bank of Washington (assets: $682 million), real estate in the capital and a Western fuel company, may have to sell some of its holdings. Perhaps most troubling of all, the U.M.W. is in a state of near anarchy, having overwhelmingly rejected its leadership's call to ratify the proposed contract. Says one veteran union staffer: "We've never had a precedent of this kind. There is very grave danger."

Ironically, the genesis of today's problems came during the years before the enfeebled Lewis retired at age 79 in 1960. The union was badly shaken by mechanization--300,000 mining jobs disappeared in 15 years--by the recession in the late '50s, and by the growing use of oil. Thousands of miners began working in "dog-holes," small, nonunion mines that were underselling the large operators. The U.M.W. permitted a series of "sweetheart" contracts under which management and locals ignored sections of the national contract to keep mines in business and save jobs. But the sweethearts did not stop the growth of non-U.M.W. mines, which now account for about 50% of extracted coal; they only added to rank-and-file resentment.

Lewis also left a dubious choice as his successor: W.A. ("Tony") Boyle. Boyle continued to rule the union in Lewis' dictatorial style and further alienated the membership by largely ignoring their wishes for fringe benefits. Boyle kept dissident miners at bay by packing union conventions with his own delegates. He finally lost his hold following the 1969 union election. Dissident Leader Joseph Yablonski had waged a fierce campaign, citing Boyle as an embezzler of union pension funds. Boyle claimed victory; Yablonski charged the election was fixed and asked the Labor Department to investigate. Three weeks later Yablonski, his wife and daughter were shot and killed. Just last month Boyle's 1974 conviction for masterminding the murders was reaffirmed.

When Arnold Miller, 54, rode the wave of miners' dissent into power, he promised to democratize the union. That he did--the expired contract was the first ever to be voted on by the membership. "In the old days," says a West Virginia district leader, "a contract was sent down and the membership just went back to work. Now you have all this freedom..."

But flaws in Miller's leadership have left the union adrift. The reformers who brought him to power have either quit or been fired. Miller, says one former lieutenant, is "surrounded by yes-men who tell him how great he is."

Great he is not. Miller's lackluster leadership has led to a recall movement among the rank and file. But it is unlikely that recall will succeed. Under the union constitution, 30% of the members must sign petitions within 30 days, hardly an impossibility, but each name can be challenged by Miller, a process that could take years.

No matter what happens in the present strike, the U.M.W. faces a difficult future because of technological change. Much new coal production will come from Western strip miners, who are a different breed. Most are being organized by the Operating Engineers and other unions. They work in the open, in large machines. They'll never sing of the U.M.W. of A.

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