Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 22, 1990 TAG: 9004220216
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WISE LENGTH: Long
When Castle, 62, retired Friday as a plant operator at Pittston's Moss No. 3 coal plant in Russell County, he was making $175 a day. Castle is a committed union man.
Castle, whose face looks as if it were chiseled from white marble, was sitting in the grandstands at the Wise County fairgrounds Saturday. His granddaughter, Brooke Bentley, a second-grader at South Salem Elementary School, was by his side. The pair and one of Castle's daughters were listening to speakers - including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former Labor Secretary William Usery and United Mine Workers President Richard Trumka - praise a UMW victory over Pittston.
A 10 1/2-month strike by the UMW against Pittston ended on Feb. 19 when striking miners ratified a new contract that gave the union much of what it sought during bargaining. Saturday and today, the union is celebrating the successful end of the strike with speeches, free food and entertainment at the fairgrounds.
Ironically, the end of the strike caused a conflict with the festivities. Pittston miners had to work Saturday, so attendance at the fairgrounds was only about a 10th of the 10,000 who had been expected.
Castle, whose home is at Castlewood in Russell County, characterized the strike as "one of the greatest things that has ever happened to labor."
In that opinion, he was in agreement with many of the leaders from other unions who came to speak and share the UMW's celebration. The UMW has put the guts back in the labor movement, said Ernie LaBaff, president of the brick workers union.
Trumka said the Pittston experience had helped unions regain "a sense of belief in ourselves."
The Pittston strike may help prevent other strikes, Trumka said. Some companies bent on fighting the union may see from the strike that there is a better way, he said. As an example, he pointed to the Peabody Coal Co., which has just agreed to extend its contract with the UMW at its mines out West for two years.
Since the UMW struck Pittston, 100 companies have signed contracts with the union, Trumka said. The UMW has contracts with 1,526 companies, he said.
Some of the union workers still on strike, however, are employed by Pittston subcontractors. Roughly 200 miners who struck with the Pittston miners are still on picket lines in Southwest Virginia.
Usery, who mediated an end to the Pittston strike at the request of Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole, said the strike will have an impact on the entire coal industry through the commission Dole established to examine health care for retired coal miners. Usery chairs that commission.
Usery urged the miners to develop a closer working relationship with Pittston management so they would not have to fight the company again.
"We not only sought to get a new agreement but we dedicated ourselves that we build a new relationship," is how Usery described the goals of the Pittston negotiations.
The world is changed, Usery told the miners. "We now have a global market. We know we must do things different in the future than we did in the past."
Usery said he will address the Pittston board of directors in two weeks in New York and plans to give them the same message.
Jackson, who it appeared might not make the rally because of the rain, praised the "true grit" of the miners. Jackson was making his third appearance in Wise County in the past year in support of the union. Some were amused that the rainy skies gave way to sunshine as Jackson began to speak, just as they did last spring at a rally Jackson attended at the fairgrounds.
Jackson, who had been in London last week with Nelson Mandela, said the South African black leader knows that no union has contributed more money and effort to helping black laborers in that country than the United Mine Workers.
Though Jackson recently was said to be trying to grab a position in the Democratic "New Mainstream," his speech Saturday didn't embrace that philosophy. Jackson said that April 29 through May 2, he will join the Textile Workers union on an organizing drive throughout the South.
"We want jobs and dignity," Jackson said. The hardest-working poor people and the most unorganized are in the South, he said.
Speaking specifically about the Southwest Virginia coalfields, Jackson said, "It doesn't make sense to have the poorest people, the hardest working people, on the wealthiest land.
"We cannot just settle for a contract. We need ownership. We need equity," he said, bringing the cheering crowd to its feet.
Danny LeBlanc, vice president of the Virginia AFL-CIO, took a swipe at former Gov. Gerald Baliles, who was criticized by the unions for his lack of involvement in settling the strike. Balilies has joined a Richmond law firm that has represented Pittston.
"I hope [Baliles] makes a lot of money working for Pittston; he ain't never going to be elected to nothing in Virginia again," LeBlanc said.
Since the end of the strike, 1,450 of the striking miners have returned to their jobs and Pittston reported a profit in its coal operations for March. Another 250 miners are still on layoff, and Pittston closed some mines and a coal plant during the strike.
The continued layoff of these miners and the strike at Pittston subcontractors is a continuing source of concern to some union members. So are some of the changes that resulted from the new contract.
James Grizzle, a Pittston machinist from Castlewood, said he and others were not happy with the subcontracting out of work that formerly would have gone to the Pittston central shop, where he works. The only work being sent to the shop how, he said, is the "rough stuff" nobody else wants.
The relationship with company supervisors has been good since the strike ended, though, Grizzle said. "They've been pretty open with us, pretty straightforward about telling us things.`
Castle said the reason he retired last week - besides having over 44 years on the job - was a change in his job schedule that resulted from the new flexible scheduling that Pittston is now permitted.
Pittston changed Castle's shift to 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. from the 4 p.m.-midnight shift he worked before the strike. After the change, Castle said he decided, "There's young men out there that need my job, and I'm going to give it to them."
by CNB