
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 12, 1993                   TAG: 9307120069
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GRUNDY                                LENGTH: Medium

COAL OPERATION SALE STIRS FEARS OF STRIKE'S SPREAD

Buchanan County officials say they hope the sale of a coal operation to CONSOL Inc. doesn't lead to the coal strike's spread to Virginia.

"It would be a terrible blow to us," said Roger Rife, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors. Unemployment in the county is about 11 percent, and one of every three jobs there depends on the mining industry.

"We were hoping when CONSOL came in, production would increase," Rife said.

The United Mine Workers union started its selective strike against members of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association on May 10. The union has escalated the walkout repeatedly and now says it has 14,000 members on strike against five companies in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Until this month, the Buchanan County mines were controlled by Island Creek Coal Co. Inc., one of the state's largest coal companies. On July 1, they were purchased by CONSOL Inc., the nation's second-largest coal producer and a target of the strike.

"It's been so confusing we don't know what to expect from the union and we don't know what to expect from the company," said Gerry Gaby, a union miner at Island Creek's Virginia Pocahontas No. 3 mine. "But I can almost promise you we'll be out by the end of [this] week."

Gaby said that Island Creek miners have not been out on strike for an extended period since the 78-day nationwide walkout in 1981. "It's been a long time, but we'll do what it takes," he said.

Up to 1,000 workers will be told to leave their jobs as early as Tuesday, sources told the Richmond Times-Dispatch for a story Sunday.

Several sources familiar with the strike told the Times-Dispatch that Virginia union miners will be asked to man picket lines at coal operations in Buchanan County.

UMW officials declined comment other than to say the strike would expand and that as many as 3,000 new workers would be called out sometime this week. That would bring to 17,000 the number of miners on picket lines.

"The target mines were selected Thursday," UMW spokesman Jim Grossfeld said.

by CNB