Most Miners Go to Work Except in West Virginia

Coal miners appeared to be ending a wildcat strike Monday everywhere but West Virginia as they awaited word from a meeting today between an official of Pittston Co. and their union president.

State police reported numerous pickets throughout the West Virginia coal fields.

“It’s my understanding that all of our mines outside of West Virginia with the exception of the Camp Complex in Kentucky are working,” said Tom Clarke, a spokesman for Peabody Holding Co., the nation’s largest coal producer. About 2,850 Peabody Coal Co. miners in West Virginia remained off the job Monday, Clarke said.

Some scattered violence was reported in southern West Virginia, with coal trucks serving non-union Elk Run Coal Co. in Boone County hit by rocks and other objects.

Strikes in 10 States

Up to 46,000 United Mine Workers members in 10 states walked out June 12 to support 1,900 other UMW members striking Pittston over its refusal to sign a contract guaranteeing full medical benefits for pensioners and prohibiting mandatory overtime and Sunday work.

The wildcat strikers also protested what they say were excessive fines and jail terms imposed on UMW members and supporters picketing Pittston operations in Virginia.

But UMW President Richard Trumka on Friday asked the miners to return to work, and most appeared to do so Monday.

Mark Polen, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Assn., blamed a “radical minority” within the union for keeping the mines idle, primarily in Charleston-based District 17, with about 8,000 working members.

‘Preached for Two Hours’

“There were pickets out there today, scattered all over the highway,” said Fred Jarrell, president of Local 1330 at Consolidation Coal Co.’s Rowland Mine in Raleigh County. “I stood up there yesterday and preached for two hours telling people to go back to work. I don’t think it did any good.”

Trumka said he will attend a meeting today set up by Virginia-based U.S. District Judge Glen Williams of Abingdon, Va., who wrote to Trumka and Pittston Chairman Paul Douglas to ask why negotiations broke down last month. Williams has issued court orders limiting picketing at Pittston operations.

Pittston spokeswoman Susan Copeland said Monday that Pittston Coal Group President Michael Odom will represent the company at the closed-door meeting in Duffield, Va.