Health care, a basic right for all working people, is something that the UMWA has fought many battles to win and maintain.
Freeman United Coal Mines, owned by General Dynamics, has made a decision to take on the UMWA in central Illinois. They dropped out of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) in June 1997, and are demanding to negotiate a separate, more "competitive" contract with the union.
Because of the issues involved, and because of Freeman's intent to inflict deeper cuts than the BCOA attempted in national negotiations, this strike takes on important implications for the miners union as a whole. These UMWA strikers deserve support from unionists across the country and from workers everywhere who face similar attacks from the employers and the government.
The strikers at Freeman's three mines understand that the issue of health care is a life-and-death question for mine workers. The miners union has been in the vanguard of labor's battles for years. UMWA members carried out a revolution in the early 1970s to democratize their union as part of forging a fighting instrument to resist the attacks by the coal operators. A central issue in this transformation was also the fight for black lung benefits and against the mine owners' attacks on health and safety.
In 1978 the UMWA negotiated contracts with the coal operators guaranteeing lifetime health benefits for all retired miners, including those whose employers had gone out of business. In 1992 Congress enacted a law, known as the Coal Act, that extended this agreement to companies that had previously signed contracts with the UMWA before 1978. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down this law in a further attack on the mine workers.
The fight that has developed between the UMWA and Freeman takes place as working-class resistance to the bosses is on an upswing. Earlier this year members of the United Auto Workers at General Motors, Case, and Caterpillar decided to fight rather than roll over and accept cuts in their living and work conditions. Workers at Titan Tire in Des Moines, Iowa, members of the United Steelworkers of America, have been on strike for more than four months. And a sister local of the UMWA in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, has been on strike for almost six months.
From telephone workers here and in Puerto Rico to workers in mining, auto, steel, and the airlines, there are lots of opportunities to join in struggle and organize solidarity with those who want to fight.
Working people should follow this strike closely, bring it to the attention of co-workers and others, and prepare to respond to any call for solidarity with the UMWA members on strike against Freeman.