Latinos Sought as Mining’s Next Generation

At age 15, Ricky Mullins followed his father and his grandfather into the mines. For years, they scraped and shoveled coal to put food on the table. But Mullins, now 48, fears that the family tradition will end with his son.

Despite the inherent hazards of being a miner, Mullins and others in the area consider it the best job opportunity available to them -- and are proud of the work they do.

“All we have is coal mining,” Mullins said. “But the companies don’t want to hire local -- not when they can get the Hispanics to work cheaper.” The local mine company here, Sidney Coal Co., is seeking to change Kentucky mining legislation so it can hire non-English-speaking Latino workers.

Kentucky law requires that miners be fluent in English for safety reasons, but Sidney Coal, a subsidiary of Massey Energy Inc., has claimed that it cannot find enough local workers.

“It is common knowledge that the work ethic of the eastern Kentucky worker has declined from where it once was,” the president of Sidney Coal, Charlie Bearse, wrote to the Kentucky Mining Board. “Attitudes have changed among the existing workforce, which affects attendance, drug use and, ultimately, productivity.”

Bearse’s comments have unsettled many in this region of steep mountains and thin hollows, where the descendants of English, German and Scotch-Irish settlers have struggled as the coal industry has declined in recent years.

“It’s insulting to the men and women who want to work here and stay here,” said Kentucky state Rep. Robin Webb, a former miner. “Mining is their way of life.” Although migrant workers are already a presence in Kentucky’s tobacco fields and thoroughbred horse farms, they scarcely penetrated the Appalachian coal fields.

Many eastern Kentucky miners worry that bringing non-English-speaking Latinos underground would force them to accept lower wages and lead to a decline in mine safety.

Already, there have been 19 deaths in Appalachian mines this year. In January, an explosion that killed 12 miners at the Sago Mine in West Virginia sparked a national debate about mine safety reform.

“I wouldn’t want my son working with a bunch of Hispanics who couldn’t understand him,” said Mullins, who was huddled next to a gas heater in the local Citgo gas station, smoking Marlboro cigarettes. “It’s dangerous enough down there.”

Mullins worked underground for more than 18 years, until he suffered an electrical shock picking a cable out of the water. When he tried to go back into the mines, he had a minor stroke and his doctor advised him not to return. He has drawn Social Security and disability payments for the last 14 years.

Mullins is far from unusual in Sidney. According to the 2000 census, 38% of Sidney’s residents have disability status and more than 33% live below the poverty level -- more than double the national average.

A week ago, Bearse -- who declined to comment for this article -- apologized to local workers in an open letter to the Lexington Herald-Leader for his remarks to the mining board. “Having lived in eastern Kentucky for much of my life,” the coal company executive said, “I know there are many people inside and outside the coal industry who work hard.”

The Sidney Coal processing plant looms over a thin row of grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants and a church. In the tiny, close-knit town that sits on a creek in a hollow of scrawny poplars, coal mining is the main source of income.

“Used to be you were grandfathered in,” said Haskell Francis, 34, a mine foreman at Sidney Coal. “Your daddy showed you how to do it.”

Coal production in eastern Kentucky declined by nearly a third between 1990 and 2003, according to the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals. During this time, hundreds of miners were laid off and few younger, inexperienced miners were hired, said William Chapman, a representative of the Kentucky United Mine Workers of America who is on the Kentucky Mining Board.

“The companies say they lost a generation of workers to drugs,” Chapman said. “What really happened is that the coal companies stopped hiring and the generation that didn’t get hired went on to do other things.”

Nathan Coleman, 20, a college student who works as a trainee miner at Sidney Coal, said that mines provided young people with a chance to make good money, but most tried to go to college and pursue other careers.

“Most people go to the mines when they don’t have other options,” said Coleman, who plans to teach and coach football at the local high school, Belfry. “When I have my teaching degree, I’ll be sitting behind a desk. I won’t be getting dirty.”

Coal prices in Appalachia have doubled in the last three years, but many companies say they are struggling to produce more. Production in eastern Kentucky dropped by 1.6% from 2004 to 2005, according to the National Mining Assn.

“We’re losing production even though the price of coal is up,” said Bill K. Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Assn. “There is not a large enough pool of workers.” Not everyone agrees there is a shortage of workers in Kentucky.

Edgar “Butch” Oldham, a miners union representative in Madisonville, Ky., said companies were exaggerating the labor shortage to further their agenda of hiring lower-paid Latino workers.

In the last two years, he said, 12,000 people in Kentucky have taken the new 40-hour mining training course.

“Are they really suggesting all these people are on drugs?” he asked.

Many companies say drug abuse has become widespread in the coal labor force, with miners who are fired by one company being hired by other companies. Last week, legislation was introduced to Kentucky’s General Assembly to require mandatory drug testing for all coal miners.

Many who live in Sidney say prescription drug abuse has become particularly acute in the last three years.

At Williamson’s Family Foods, John Williamson II scanned the aisles of his family’s grocery store.

“I can look at everyone in this room and tell you someone in their family that is dealing with drugs,” he said.

After years of backbreaking work in cramped underground tunnels -- the average miner works in a space 20 feet wide and four feet high -- many older miners became dependent on painkillers such as OxyContin.

Some passed their addictions on to their children, who could no longer count on mining work.

Although many responded to the downturn in the economy by self-medicating, others encouraged their children to excel at high school and go on to college. Yet as more local students go to college, many worry that more will leave Appalachia.

The people of eastern Kentucky have long migrated to other states, as the country singer, Dwight Yoakam, noted in “Readin’, Writin’, and Route 23,” his song about his family’s move from the coal fields of Pike County, Ky., to Columbus, Ohio.

“We’re already watching our best and brightest students migrate,” said Webb. “I fear for our way of life.”

The prospect of busing in Latino workers, Webb said, sounded reminiscent of the early 20th century when companies used railroads to drop Polish and Italian workers off at coal camps.

Then, miners lived in company homes, sent their children to company schools and were paid in scrip that could only be spent at the company store.

“It was basically indentured servitude,” Webb said. “The company controlled your life.”

Some locals predict tension if Latino workers come to Sidney.

“There’d be hard feelings both ways,” said Monk Smith Jr., 60, who worked in the mines for 16 years until he was injured in a rock fall. “Round this territory, if you mess with our money you’re asking for trouble.” Eventually, though, Smith thought both sides would get along -- even if he doubted he would see it in his lifetime.

“Coal miners look out for each other,” he said. “With a Hispanic, it would be difficult. But there’s a bond in the mines, a mutual feeling you can’t describe.” This sentiment was echoed by Francis, the foreman at Sidney Coal, who said he already worked alongside a Latino miner who started out with “broken up” English, but became more fluent over the years.

“He had to learn two languages: English and hillbilly slang,” laughed Francis. “But he works hard. Hell, I respect anyone who’s willing to work for a living.”