Dole Declares ‘Time Is Right’ to Appoint ‘Super Mediator’ for Coal Miners’ Strike
Labor Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole on Saturday said she would soon appoint a “super mediator” in a new effort to end the coal field dispute between Pittston Co. and the United Mine Workers union.
A day after she visited strikers and company officials in Virginia coal towns, Dole presided over a 90-minute session in her office with Pittston Chairman Paul Douglas and UMW President Richard L. Trumka, marking the first time the two had met since the strike began six months ago.
She called it “a very good meeting,” and said: “Both these gentlemen are committed to ending this dispute, and agreed . . . that I appoint a super mediator.
“This will be a person of stature, and I will make that appointment just as soon as feasible,” the labor secretary said.
Douglas and Trumka left her office without commenting. Later, Trumka issued a statement applauding Dole for her hands-on approach.
The two men had not met since 1,695 miners in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky went on strike April 5 against Pittston Coal Group Inc.’s mines in those three states. Pittston Co., the parent company, is based in Greenwich, Conn.
Talks between lower-level negotiators, conducted for weeks under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, have produced virtually no progress. Dole lauded the FMCS effort but said it was time to try something different.
She characterized her tour Friday as emotionally wrenching, saying: “I saw families against families, brothers against brothers--this is tearing entire communities apart.
“The time is right,” she said, “for me to offer my offices to move forward with a super mediator.”
Health benefits, not wages, are chiefly at issue in the dispute. Pittston bolted from the Bituminous Coal Operators Assn. last year, saying the nationwide contract that the association had negotiated with the UMW gave too much to the miners, particularly in medical benefits for pensioners. The company then sought to negotiate its own contract and reduce those benefits.
Trumka had asked repeatedly to meet directly with Douglas, but Douglas had declined until Dole invited both men to join her in talks. Douglas previously had argued that local managers were better qualified to address the mining issues.
The strike has become a rallying point for organized labor across the country. Union leaders contend the company is attempting to break the UMW with a contract that would threaten the stability of the union’s pension fund. Pittston has denied trying to rid itself of organized employees.
