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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993                   TAG: 9305020130
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HUNTINGTON, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Medium

OFFICIAL: `GOOD FAITH' AD WON'T AFFECT COAL TALKS

Thomas Hoffman of CONSOL, Inc., a spokesman for the Bituminous Coal Operators Association, said the religious leaders had not discussed their concerns with coal operators.

"We understand that people are concerned. We're concerned. We'd like to have a contract. That's what we're working towards," Hoffman said Friday night.

A 60-day contract extension between the UMW and the association expires at midnight Monday.

"Ads like this I don't think have any material effect on negotiations that are going into their last couple of days," Hoffman said.

Negotiators agreed to the extension in March after a monthlong strike at subsidiaries of Peabody Holding Co., the nation's largest coal producer.

Hoffman said a UMW rally scheduled to be held in Pittsburgh today also would not affect negotiations.

The newspaper advertisements ran Friday.

"Religious leaders call upon the coal operators to commit to job security for UMWA members and to prevent the hiring of replacement workers in the event of a strike," the ad said.

"As religious leaders, we remind the coal operators that the miners should not be treated as disposable property but rather they should be treated with dignity and respect," the ad said.

"Too often the history of the coal industry in the United States has rejected this idea," the ad said.

The group includes 10 leaders from national faith groups and 132 bishops, including Chicago's Joseph Cardinal Bernardin and the Most Rev. Edmond Lee Browning, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

UMW President Richard Trumka said he was "gratified" by the support of the religious leaders.

"What the religious leaders are pointing out is that there is a moral issue to the fact that, without job security guarantees from the coal industry, thousands of middle-aged coal miners stand to lose their jobs over the next seven years," Trumka said.

Hoffman said religious leaders had no reason to believe the coal operators were not bargaining in good faith.

"We said when we went back to the table in March that we were prepared to talk about job opportunities at union operations and nonunion operations," he said.