The large majority of participants were doctors and other health-care professionals, lawyers, UMWA district and international officials, and retired miners in the BLA. Conference workshops focused on the details of trying to win a black lung claim for a miner through the government bureaucracy. The event was held several hours away from the nearest coal communities, a departure from past years.

Alan Derickson, a doctor who recently published a book on black lung, opened the conference by reviewing the nearly 100-year struggle by miners in the United States for health care and compensation for black lung, which was only officially recognized as a disease by the U.S. government with the passage of the Coal Act in 1969.

Black lung, known medically as Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis, is a disabling occupational lung disease caused by breathing in coal dust. It is a progressive disease that causes shortness of breath and eventually suffocation. While there is no cure, black lung can be eliminated entirely through proper air ventilation, water sprays to reduce dust levels, and respirators in the mines. Roughly 1,500 workers a year die of black lung. Countless others' lives are cut short by the disease and related illnesses, but go unreported.

In the early 1970s, on the heels of the 1969 black lung strike that forced the passage of the Coal Act, about 70 percent of miners with claims received compensation. Three decades later, black lung remains the main killer of miners, but the government and coal bosses have succeeded in sharply curtailing compensation. In the past 10 years just 4 percent of those who applied for benefits won them on the first try. Through appeals, the number rises to 7.5 percent. Since the passage of a new workers compensation law in Kentucky three years ago, the number of miners with black lung there who qualified for benefits dropped from over 79 percent to just 0.9 percent in 1997.

The reality for most miners suffering from black lung is to die without ever receiving benefits. The existing laws and regulations benefit the coal bosses, who have resources to hire lawyers and call on insurance executives to argue their case. Because of costs and bureaucratic delays, miners are often forced to represent themselves.

In recent years, opposition to this situation has been growing in the coal fields. In response, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed new regulations for coal miners seeking compensation. These proposals, submitted just prior to the conference, are based in part on two public hearings held in 1997. The proposals, contained in a lengthy and mind-deadening U.S. Labor document, are largely cosmetic. For example, the government proposes that coal companies be limited in the amount of medical evidence allowed to rebut evidence brought by miners. Coal miners are often subjected to tests by dozens of different doctors.

"There are now no limits on the number of exams that can be introduced, and miners often complain that coal companies overwhelm judges with numerous reports from doctors who nearly always conclude that the miner has no black lung," reported the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal.

Representatives from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the UMWA spoke about the current government regulations on controlling dust levels in the mines. Since 1969, underground coal companies have been responsible for monthly "self-inspection" of dust levels with annual tests by MSHA. Cheating is widespread, especially in nonunion mines where workers who speak out against conditions are frequently fired. Water sprays used to control dust are turned off or clogged, only to be cleaned during a MSHA visit. In some mines, curtains used to help circulate fresh air to the mine face, where coal is being extracted, are not even put up until an inspector comes.

Often the MSHA tests are rigged too. Under the law, coal companies can lower production by 40 percent during tests, causing less respirable dust. Frequently, MSHA inspectors leave the mine during the test, and the fines for high dust levels only range in the hundreds of dollars.

The assistant secretary of labor for mine safety, Davitt McAteer admitted at the black lung conference that "there is widespread cheating by coal operators." He continued, "Pneumoconiosis should not even exist. It's a shame it has not been wiped out in this country yet." He presented recommendations from a government commission, including MSHA taking over dust-sample testing and "single sample" tests of miners who breathe in the most dust. Currently, tests are taken in several different areas of a mine and averaged out. Miners who work where the coal is extracted are exposed to substantially higher dust levels.

There have been several commissions in the last couple decades making the same proposals. Paul Seigle from the Chicago Area Black Lung Association noted that the commission recommendations have been demanded by miners since the 1970s. Joe Main, director of the department of occupational health and safety for the UMWA, said the proposals have no meaning since they have never been acted on by MSHA.

This year's black lung conference takes place in the context of a broader assault by the coal operators, with government backing, on the health and safety of miners. This has led to a growing mood of resistance in the coal communities. In September, the UMWA organized five mass meetings in the coalfields in defense of lifetime health care and pensions for retired miners and their spouses. About 70,000 retirees are threatened with losing company-funded health care because of a series of recent court rulings around the 1992 Coal Act.

Over the last year, there have been three strikes — against Jeddo in the eastern anthracite coalfields, Freeman United in central Illinois, and Deserado in Colorado —with central issues including company attacks on health care and pensions. This past summer, 36 miners carried out a successful organizing drive at Green Pond in western Kentucky after the company announced it was cutting their medical coverage.

Cecil Roberts, president of the UMWA spoke at the black lung conference. He opened by reviewing the social movement that developed in the 1960s demanding better working conditions and compensation for black lung, and described the recent meetings around the Coal Act. The promise by coal operators that pensions and health care would be guaranteed with every contract was won in 1946, after coal miners defied a court injunction making their nationwide strike illegal, he noted.

Roberts referred to the strike against Pittston coal company a decade ago, during which 40,000 miners walked off the job in solidarity. One of the central issues in the strike was medical benefits. He said, "We will do the same thing a hundred times more for the 70,000 retirees," and threatened to call a march on Washington next year. He made similar statements at the Coal Act meetings.

Several retired miners who are in the Black Lung Association told Militant reporters they had participated in the recent meetings to defend their lifetime health care. Herman Klass, president of the Indiana BLA, said the working conditions are getting worse in the mines in southern Indiana and western Kentucky. Some miners in their 30s and 40s are coming into the local UMWA clinic with black lung.

"We have to act," Klass said. "It's going to take a march and lot more to keep our health care. So many of these guys have put in 30 or 40 years in a mine. Many have black lung but have been turned down for benefits. And now the operators say they're going to just cut it off," he said. Klass worked in surface mines for 36 years and has been denied benefits for black lung.

John Votava, a member of the United Steelworkers of America in Chicago, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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