Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 15, 1993 TAG: 9306150148
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HUNTINGTON, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
"We can reach agreement on a new contract," said B.R. Brown, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Consol Inc. and chief negotiator for the Bituminous Coal Operators Association.
Brown said the companies' proposal "demonstrates our willingness to address, head on, the union's most important issue."
UMW President Richard Trumka has accused the companies of failing to live up to the 1988 agreement, which expired Feb. 1.
That contract called for the operators to give three of every five jobs at their new mines, including non-union mines operated by related companies, to laid-off members of the union.
The union filed numerous legal challenges to the companies' contention that the non-union operations are not covered by the 1988 agreement. Most of those challenges are still unresolved.
The union began its strike May 10 and has escalated it repeatedly. About 12,000 miners are now on strike in West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
Brown said the association now has authority to negotiate for the non-union companies it says were not covered by the 1988 agreement. In addition, he said the latest proposal also offers jobs at the non-union mines to miners who are still working.
The companies' current proposal "is clearly better than the 1988 agreement," Brown said.
A spokesman for the union in Washington, D.C., disagreed. Greg Hawthorne said the proposal would let the operators fill the first 40 percent of all new jobs with whomever they wanted, with union miners guaranteed three of every five jobs only in the remaining 60 percent.
"We had three out of five jobs at all their mines and now they're offering 36 percent of the jobs. That's certainly not acceptable," Hawthorne said.
by CNB