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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 17, 1993                   TAG: 9304170392
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Medium

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UMW REPORTS LITTLE PROGRESS IN CONTRACT TALKS

A United Mine Workers official Friday reported little progress in contract talks with coal operators and warned miners to "prepare for the worst" once a contract extension expires May 3.

"I'm urging all of our folks to get into a full state of readiness for whatever action our president decides to take," said Howard Green, UMW international board member for District 17 in Charleston. "I would urge members to prepare for the worst."

The UMW's contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association expired Feb. 2, and the union then began a selective strike against Peabody Holding Co. of St. Louis and its subsidiaries, Peabody Coal Co. and Eastern Associated Coal Corp.

The strike ended after a month when the two sides agreed to a 60-day contract extension under which they resumed talks in mid-March.

Green said he met this week in Evansville, Ind., with UMW President Richard Trumka and other international board representatives. He said the UMW and the coal operators remain far apart.

"I don't think the operators recognize the union's needs or wants on union job opportunities or job security," Green said. "We feel they don't realize how determined we are to achieve those goals."

The UMW says job security is the main contract issue. It objects to what it calls "double-breasting," in which unionized companies form non-union subsidiaries to open new coal mines.

"I think to say that our membership is prepared for any and all possibilities and ready for a variety of alternatives, that is absolutely correct," said Jim Grossfeld, spokesman for the union at its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

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