The Nation - News from July 17, 1989

“The only thing you can do is wait and see,” said Danny Wells, a district union representative in Madison, W. Va., as coal miners in Appalachian mines were deciding whether to follow their Midwestern and Southern colleagues back to work. Wildcat walkouts by as many as 46,000 miners supporting 1,900 striking Pittston Coal Group workers have idled much of the nation’s coal production since June 12. The number of wildcat strikers fell to 37,000 last week. And 16,000--all the miners in Alabama, Illinois and Indiana and some in Kentucky--are expected to return for their next scheduled shifts. Union leaders in Pennsylvania said they believed the 7,500 miners in their state would return by today. That put pressure on miners in West Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee.